Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has filed a petition in the special CBI court, seeking exemption from appearance in an alleged disproportionate assets cases.
Jagan pleaded that he be exempted from the weekly hearing as he was unable to attend the court since he had to discharge his constitutional duties as the Chief Minister. He urged the court to allow his lawyer to represent him.
The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Friday. Jagan has not appeared in the court since he became the Chief Minister in May as he was granted exemptions.
But the YSRCP President has to present himself in the CBI court every Friday in the cases filed against him in 2011.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court had in 2017 rejected Reddy's plea to exempt him from personal appearance in the special court. He had pleaded for exemption, citing his duties as a legislator and the leader of opposition.
The High Court had ruled he could apply for exemption on a week-by-week basis.
The allegations against Jagan relate to the period 2004-2009, when Jagan's father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister. The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which are probing the cases, said that Jagan, in criminal conspiracy with others, received bribes from various persons/companies in the guise of investments in his group companies as 'quid pro quo' for undue favours granted to them by the then Andhra Pradesh government.
Jagan was arrested in May 2012 in the DA case when he was an MP. In 2013, the special CBI court had granted conditional bail to Jagan, after he spent 16 months in jail.