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The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the protection it had granted to three accused persons from being arrested in the Rs 3,500 crore Andhra Pradesh (AP) Liquor scam case.
Earlier, the Court had granted interim 'protection from arrest' to the three accused, Balaji Govindappa, Pellakuru Krishna Mohan Reddy and K Dhanunjaya Reddy on their pleas challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court's November 19 decision to reject their bail plea and directing them to surrender. Today, a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant extended the interim protection while rejecting the accused persons' plea for bail. The Court, however, asked the three accused-petitioners to approach the trial court seeking regular bail. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up by the current Andhra Pradesh government to probe alleged corruption in the liquor sector between 2019 and 2024. As per the SIT, kickbacks worth about Rs 4,000 crore were collected during the previous YSRCP government's tenure. The SIT was formed by the newly elected NDA government. Investigators have been told by liquor manufacturers that they were allegedly forced to pay Rs 150-Rs 200 per case every month, adding up to nearly Rs 80 crore in monthly kickbacks. Among the three accused, Dhanunjaya Reddy is a former IAS officer who served as a secretary in the former Chief Minister's Office, while Krishna Mohan Reddy, another accused, was an officer on Special Duty to then Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Balaji Govindappa, the third accused person, was a director at Bharati Cements. Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram, Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Dave appeared for the accused persons. (ANI)
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