HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the Central and State governments to come to an opinion in accordance with the provisions of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act on the issue of probing the incident of attack on YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy that took place on Visakhapatnam airport premises on October 25. Section 6 of the Act clearly specifies the guidelines as to how the Central government or the State should act in such cases, the bench noted and directed both the governments to initiate steps accordingly and to inform its opinion to the court by next date of case hearing i.e., January 4.
The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice SV Bhatt was passing the order in the petition filed by Jagan seeking probe by any appropriate independent agency not under the control of AP government. Jagan also filed an additional affidavit seeking directions to the Central government for conducting a comprehensive investigation into the incident. He also sought directions to the Andhra Pradesh government to forthwith forward the case report and information to the Centre for the purpose. Central agencies like NIA has got the power to probe such incidents, he added.
The bench was also hearing the PIL filed by YSR Congress MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy from Mangalagiri constituency seeking to grant a stay on all further proceedings in the investigation being conducted by the AP police. The petitioner MLA sought directions to the Centre to prosecute the State DGP, SIT in-charge, Visakhapatnam police commissioner and SHO of airport police station. Earlier, a PIL was also filed by B Anil Kumar and another on airport security lapses.
Pursuant to earlier direction by the court, assistant solicitor general K Lakshman, appearing for the Centre, submitted a report in a sealed cover regarding the Centre’s decision on NIA probe into the incident. After perusing the contents of the report, the bench returned it in the sealed cover to the home ministry and had not disclosed the contents. The bench then directed both the governments to come to an opinion in accordance with the guidelines specified under Section 6 of the Act.