HYDERABAD: The High Court on Thursday set aside the orders issued by the Economic Offences Court extending the police custody of V Vijay Sai Reddy, vicechairman of Jagathi Publications and an accused in the illegal assets case of Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy, till January 17.
Dealing with a petition challenging the orders given by the magistrate of the Economic Offences Court on January 10, justice L Narasimha Reddy of the High Court said the CBI could approach the special CBI court if it felt extension of the police custody of Vijay Sai Reddy was required.
The CBI had produced the accused in the incharge court- Economic Offences Court- when the special CBI court judge was on leave and sought extension of his police custody.
After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the incharge court magistrate had ordered extension of the custody by seven days (till Jan 17). It also directed the CBI to interrogate the accused between 10 am and 5 pm in the presence of his advocate while permitting him to stay in the Chanchalguda prison.
That order was challenged in the High Court by Vijay Sai Reddy on Thursday.
After hearing the arguments, justice Narasimha Reddy observed that the incharge court had no jurisdiction to issue such orders. He looked into similar cases handled by the Supreme Court before setting aside the lower court's order.
At one stage, he commented that "corruption is increasing day by day and prevention is decreasing".