CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday witnessed a peculiar scene. The accused, who had been released on conditional bail and also applied for relaxation of the bail condition, pleading the judge not to grant him relief! The so-called accused is none other than mining baron Sekhar Reddy (49), who apprehended danger to his life.
Originally, vacation judge S Bhaskaran, in May, had granted bail to Reddy, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 20. While doing so, the judge had stipulated that Reddy and his associates Srinivasalu and Premkumar stay in New Delhi and report to the officer in charge of PMLA case, ED, at Delhi, daily at 10 am, until further orders.
Srinivasalu and Premkumar had moved the Madras High Court seeking the relaxation of the bail condition and the judge had granted the plea. Now they are residing in Chennai and reporting before the local officer. Reddy also filed a similar petition.
When the matter came up on Tuesday before Justice Bhaskaran, Reddy’s counsel told the judge not to consider the relaxation plea, as his client is facing danger to his life from certain quarters. It would be safe for Reddy to stay in Delhi, he added and pleaded the judge to adjourn the matter.
However, the ED counsel told the judge that since the investigation is ongoing in Chennai, no purpose will be served by Reddy staying in Delhi. The TN State police has to provide protection to Reddy. Hence, he may be granted the relaxation of bail condition, he said. The judge adjourned the matter till July 17.
The trio was arrested by ED in connection with the seizure of `34 crore in new Rs 2000 currency. The ED registered a case on December 20, 2016, against them for offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Based on the FIR registered by CBI, the ED arrested them in March.