The allegation that Majji Srinivasa Rao, a YSR Congress Party leader and close relative of Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, was responsible for the attack on Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport by J. Srinivasa Rao with a Kodi-Kathi was intended to divert the public attention from the suspicion of ‘a larger conspiracy’ behind the attempted murder, which had been conclusively ruled out by NIA Court in Vijayawada.
Advocates representing the accused Srinivasa Rao bear the onus of proving their allegations in the court at Visakhapatnam, to which the case has been assigned, after it was designated as the special court dealing with NIA cases from the combined Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East and West Godavari districts, said I. Venkateswarlu, counsel for Mr. Jagan, while pointing out that the dismissal of the plea for a probe into the ‘larger conspiracy’ was in the process of being challenged in the High Court.
Addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Venkateswarlu said the NIA had not done a comprehensive investigation into the ‘crime history’ of the accused, how he gained entry into the high-security lounge of the Vizag airport with a seemingly innocuous weapon (Kodi-Kathi) and the political leanings of his purported employer Harshavardhan.
He observed that both the local police and NIA concurred that it was an attempt to murder the the Leader of the Opposition, but the latter (NIA) did nothing substantial to unravel the conspiracy except to question 39 witnesses, and recalled that the case records were also not promptly handed over by the police to the NIA.
“Had my client not been alert, the knife would have cut his jugular vein and caused his death. The purpose of the attack would then have been served,” he said, noting that several murders were committed by using those small but extremely dangerous weapons in the Godavari districts. Only a comprehensive inquiry by the NIA into ‘Operation Garuda’ and other multiple dimensions to the offense would bring the facts to light, he said.
Mr. Venkateswarlu said Mr. Jagan’s plea for exemption from personal appearance on security and other grounds was to be decided by the court and, like any citizen of the land, he prayed for it through a proper legal channel. Similarly, it was the court’s discretion to grant bail to the accused, and to say that the government got the case transferred to Vizag by exerting influence amounted to contempt of court, he added.
