Court dismisses Jagan's plea for joint trial of all cases

HYDERABAD: A special CBI court here today dismissed the plea of jailed YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to conduct joint trial of cases filed against him in connection with alleged quid-pro-quo investments made by different entities.

The Principal Special Court for CBI cases dismissed the petition as not maintainable and observed that the offences were distinct though the modus operandi was same in the five charge-sheets filed so far.

Jagan, presently under judicial custody and lodged in Chanchalguda jail since his arrest by CBI on corruption charges in May last year, had moved the court through his counsel seeking to take up joint trial of all aspects on which different charge-sheets were filed, contending that the charges in all the documents were of the same nature.

Jagan's counsel argued that separate trials in different aspects of the case would be prejudiced against his client.

In its charge sheet filed earlier, CBI alleged that Jagan and his father, former AP Chief Minister late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and others had hatched a conspiracy to defraud the government.

According to the charge sheets, the earlier YSR government granted favours to certain firms which made investments at a very high premium in Jagan's businesses as a quid-pro-quo.