Jagan Mohan Reddy may influence witnesses, says CBI

Hyderabad:  The CBI has strongly opposed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s petition, seeking exemption from personal appearance in the court for the hearing of alleged disproportionate assets cases, saying he may influence the witnesses.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted its counter to the court of Principal Special Judge for CBI cases here.
Reddy had filed a petition last month pleading for exemption from weekly hearing into the cases.
The federal agency, which had filed the cases against Reddy and several others in 2011, argued that the petition is not maintainable either in law or on facts and is liable to be dismissed.
The CBI alleged that the petitioner approached the court with “unclean hands and by suppressing material facts”.
It submitted to that court that the exemption from personal appearance will give him “an unsolicited liberty to do whatever he wants and influence the witnesses behind the iron wall of political, money and muscle power”.