HYDERABAD: A special CBI court posted to Friday orders on the bail petition of Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is in jail in illegal assets case.The CBI court on Thursday reserved the orders after hearing the arguments of the lawyers of Jagan and the probe agency.Jagan’s counsel Ranjit Kumar argued for his conditional interim bail so that he could campaign for his party in the June 12 byelections. He said if Jagan was granted interim bail, he would appear in the court after the campaigning came to an end June 10.Jagan was also ready for daily appearance in the police station of the constituency he was visiting, he said.He alleged that it was a political conspiracy to keep him away from campaigning for the byelections to one Lok Sabha and 18 assembly seats.The CBI, however, opposed the bail petition on the grounds that Jagan was the number one accused in the case and, if released on bail, he could tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses.The agency also submitted to the court that Jagan was not contesting the byelection and hence his presence was not required for campaigning.The CBI counsel Ashok Bhan also told the court that Jagan committed the economic offence in a planned way and hence was not entitled to claim freedom.The CBI also dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into the issue and said, “Even the PM is in the dock.’’Reacting sharply to the CBI’s contention, the defence counsel dared the agency to arrest the Prime Minister and the 142 MPs.“The accused shot up from a small-time businessman to a person having colossal riches by misusing official position of his father. He is son of late chief minister. His family has some amount of respect,’’ Ashok Bhan said.A sitting MP was not given bail in CWG case and even MP Kanimozhi, who belongs to a party which is an ally of Congress, was also not given bail till the charges were framed, he said.Reacting to the prosecution, the defence counsel countered as to why the CBI is not arresting the Prime Minister if is in the dock. ``If you say the PM is in the dock, why didn’t you arrest him? Go and arrest all the 142 MPs,’’ Ranjit Kumar asked.After hearing the arguments of both the sides, judge Pullaiah posted orders for tomorrow.
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