The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to Magunta Raghava Reddy, son of YSR Congress party MP from Ongole Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy’s, who was arrested in the Delhi liquor scam case.
Raghava has already been on interim bail and now, he has got the full-fledged bail by Delhi high court judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma.
Interestingly, Enforcement Directorate, which had earlier arrested Raghava in the Delhi liquor scam case, did not oppose his bail plea and the judge recorded the same.
The ED, in its reply, said that as the accused was cooperating in the investigation and assisting in tracing the proceeds of crime, which would have been otherwise difficult, he may be granted bail.
“In view of the statement made and the facts narrated herein above, the interim bail granted vide order dated July 18 for four weeks on medical grounds is made absolute,” said the court in an order.
The high court ordered that Raghava could be released on regular bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 2,00,000 with two sureties of like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.
The court also imposed certain conditions on Raghava, including that he shall surrender his passport, not leave the country without permission, and cooperate with the probe.
It also clarified that the order would not be taken as a precedent for the benefit of other accused persons.
Raghava Reddy was arrested by the ED on February 10, following a questioning session at the ED office in New Delhi, based on information provided by two other people — businessman Gautam Malhotra from Punjab, and Rajesh Joshi, an aide of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communication head Vijay Nair.
Both Malhotra and Joshi were arrested by the ED earlier. Raghava’s arrest came within a few days of the arrest of Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla by the CBI in the scam.
Butchibabu was the former auditor of BRS MLC K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, whose name has also figured in the case. She has been questioned thrice by the ED so far.
The ED is probing the case based on an FIR issued by the CBI.
