For the last five years, YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been avoiding attending the trial in the alleged quid pro quo cases filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2012.
He cited his inability to attend court regularly due to his demanding administrative schedule as the chief minister and the inconvenience his security entourage would cause to other court attendees.
However, now that Jagan is no longer the chief minister or even the leader of the opposition, he cannot use the same excuses to avoid court appearances.
He is now just an MLA with minimal security, which means his presence in court will not cause significant disruption.
In this context, the special court for CBI cases at Nampally in Hyderabad took up the hearing on the CBI case against Jagan on Wednesday. After reviewing the situation, the court deferred the hearing to Friday.
The CBI court announced that it would henceforth conduct regular hearings on the cases against Jagan starting from Friday. It will take up all 11 cases filed by the CBI and nine cases by the Enforcement Directorate on a regular basis.
The CBI is likely to request the court to lift the exemption previously granted by the state high court, which allowed Jagan to avoid regular court attendance. They will ask the court to direct Jagan to attend the trial regularly.
However, Jagan may seek exemption from attending the CBI court this week, citing his need to attend the state assembly session commencing on Friday, according to sources.
