High Court cancels bail of accused in attack on Jagan Reddy

Amaravati, July 19 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday cancelled the bail of J. Srinivasa Rao alias Srinivas in a knife attack on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Visakhapatnam Airport in October last year.

On a petition filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the High Court set aside the May 22 order of a lower court, which had granted bail to Rao.

Rao had attacked Jagan Reddy, who was then the Leader of Opposition, with a knife while he was waiting to board a flight to Hyderabad.

The NIA told the High Court that the lower court did not specify the reasons for granting bail to the accused and it was continuing investigations into the case.

While cancelling the bail, the High Court said the accused was free to file an appeal against the verdict.

After his release from jail, Rao claimed that he did not deliberately attack Jagan Reddy. He said he met the YSRCP leader to discuss people's problems and the knife he was carrying accidentally hurt him.

Claiming that he is a fan of Jagan Reddy, Srinivas said he was ready to undergo Narco Analysis test to prove his innocence.

Rao said he was happy that Jagan Reddy became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He said his family hoped that the government would drop the case against him.

Following the attack, Jagan Reddy had refused to record his statement before the Andhra Pradesh Police saying he had no trust in agencies controlled by the state government.

The YSRCP had termed the attack a conspiracy by then ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to kill its leader while the latter called it a ploy to gain public sympathy.

On the directions of the Union Home Ministry, the NIA booked a case on January 1 and took up the investigation.

Within a month, NIA filed the charge sheet in the case and conveyed to the court that the probe into the conspiracy angle will continue.