NEW DELHI: YSRC MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy’s son Raghava Reddy, who was granted 15-day interim bail by the Delhi High Court, suffered a setback as the Supreme Court on Friday modified the HC’s order and directed him to surrender on June 12.
Reddy was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in February in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam but was granted bail by the Delhi HC on June 7 to take care of his maternal grandmother, who had slipped and was admitted to ICU. He was arrested after being questioned by the ED at its office in New Delhi.
A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal opined that the purpose for which Reddy was granted bail, could be served till June 12.
Urging the bench to either stay the grant of bail or modify the order, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju for the Enforcement Directorate, contended that his bail was applied on the part of him to stay out of jail. He also told the bench that Reddy’s regular bail was rejected by the trial court and he had attempted to seek bail on the grounds of his wife’s illness but had later withdrawn the same.
“Now, he has filed for maternal grandmother. And look at the illness, she just fell and it is not serious. There are people to look after her.” He also told the bench that the HC had misrepresented his case. “There is history of tampering. He has met the grandmother and now he can return. These are all tricks to get interim bail because they cannot get regular bail,” Raju further added.
On the other hand, senior advocate Amit Desai, while opposing the ASG’s submission, said there was nobody to take care of Reddy’s grandmother apart from him and her sickness was verified by the ED.
The bench in its order said, “Having considered the submissions and also going through the medical documents of the maternal grandmother of the respondent, in our opinion, the purpose for which the respondent has been released could be served, if he has been asked to surrender on June 12, 2023. We accordingly modify the order to direct that the interim bail shall be till June 12, 2023, as he has already been enlarged on bail on June 7, 2023.”