Jagan case: All accused told to appear on May 28

HYDERABAD: Giving no respite to Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, his financial advisor V Vijay Sai Reddy and other accused in the MP’s alleged illegal assets case, a CBI court said on Monday that all those who were served summons in the case should appear before it on May 28.The court issued this order in response to a petition filed by Vijay Sai Reddy (accused no. 2) seeking deferment of further proceedings till the investigation is completed and a final report submitted. Principal special judge A Pullaiah reserved the orders for May 28, the day on which the accused in the first chargesheet have to appear in the court.Vijay Sai Reddy’s counsel prayed the court to give the orders a day before but the judge said, “Let them appear. Let them make their first appearance.’’Earlier in the day, Vijay Sai Reddy’s counsel argued that the CBI had acted illegally by filing chargesheet before completing investigation. He said the CBI filed its first chargesheet on March 31, the 89th day of the arrest of Vijay Sai Reddy, only to ensure that the arrested was not released on bail. ``The investigation agency can only file one chargesheet, the final one,’’ he contended and pointed out that the CBI filed two more chargesheets and told the court that it would be filing seven or eight more. ``The CBI should file only one report before the court. Further investigation can be made only if new facts emerge,’’ he said.In its counter, the CBI said Vijay Sai Reddy’s petition was not maintainable and liable to be dismissed in limine and with exemplary costs. Sec 173 (a) permits the investigation agency to file any number of reports in a case. Further,  the charges were framed under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and the law is very clear that no court can stay proceedings under this Act, the CBI counsel said, adding that the defence counsel did not approach the proper forum to recall the summons issued by the court. “This court has no jurisdiction to stop the proceedings. They have to approach the High Court,’’ the CBI said.Hearing both sides, judge Pullaiah reserved the orders for May 28.