A signboard is seen outside the premises of Supreme Court in New Delhi
Credit: Reuters File Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from surrender to three persons who are accused in the alleged Rs 3,500 crore Andhra Pradesh liquor scam.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi stayed the operation of the Andhra Pradesh High Court order that had cancelled their default bail.
The high court had directed them to surrender before the trial court on November 26 and apply for regular bail.
The top court issued notices to Andhra Pradesh and others on the pleas of Balaji Govindappa, Pellakuru Krishna Mohan Reddy and K Dhanunjaya Reddy and protected them from surrender till further orders.
During the hearing, the bench said there are 400 witnesses and eventually the number may become 200.
"Even if we assume 100 witnesses, then how long will you take? Many times in the issue of default bail, many applications are rendered infructuous if the court considers prayer on regular bail and the court comes to the conclusion that without impacting fair trial a person can be accorded liberty," the bench told senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the state government.
The counsel said initially, the trial court threw out "our chargesheet and now the chargesheet is back and we will try to expedite the trial".
"We don't want to get into any academic discussions, which is a waste of court time. You have to tell us what purpose will be achieved by keeping them in custody. We know one of them was a senior officer and if you think there is a chance of influencing the witnesses, we can put some conditions," the bench said.
The court then issued the notice and asked the state government to file the response within 10 days.
"Meanwhile the petitioners are exempted from surrendering, subject to conditions already imposed by the trial court," it directed.
Dhanunjaya Reddy is a retired IAS officer and was a secretary in the Chief Minister's Office. Krishna Mohan Reddy was the OSD to then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Balaji Govindappa was a director of Bharati Cements.
Senior advocates C A Sundaram, Siddharth Dave, and Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the petitioners.
According to the prosecution, a political-business nexus resulted in manipulation in liquor procurement between 2019 and 2024 (during the previous YSRCP government), suppression of popular brands, preferential orders to new labels and systematic receipt of kickbacks.