Vijayawada: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) involved in probing the 2018 knife-attack case on then leader of the opposition and present Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, ruled out any criminal conspiracy in the attack.
The NIA, in its affidavit filed before the special court for NIA cases here on Thursday, stated that despite a thorough inquiry, no criminal conspiracy was found till date. “The role of no person other than the accused Janipalli Srinivasa Rao alias Chanti could be found in the investigations,” the NIA told the court.
It said the accused Rao was not associated with any political party.
The NIA also prayed the court to dismiss the petition filed by the victim in the case, Jagan Mohan Reddy, seeking further investigation in the case. “The NIA conducted investigations from all sides without leaving out any aspect and filed the chargesheet after completion of a thorough inquiry,” it said.
The NIA said it examined all the key witnesses including the petitioner/victim, Jagan Mohan Reddy, wherein he narrated the attack and said that the assailant attempted to murder him. The victim also said that the canteen in which the accused was working belonged to T. Harshavardhan Prasad, a known supporter of TD and aspirant for MLA ticket from Gajuwaka constituency in Visakhapatnam district during 2014.
Accordingly, the NIA examined Harshavardhan Prasad, who owned the restaurant in Visakhapatnam airport, where accused Janipalli Srinivasa Rao was working as a cook. Harvardhan informed the NIA that he was an active member of TD but denied his involvement in the attack.
The NIA said its officials also visited Thanelanka, the native place of Janapelli Srinivasa Rao, and checked all the places where he worked earlier and found nothing relevant to the offence. The NIA also checked call data records of the accused and his friends, family members, and the bank accounts of the accused and his family members and their sources of income, and found no evidence linking these to the attack, the agency claimed.
Accused Janipalli Srinivasa Rao, in his counter filed before the NIA court, referred to the plea from the victim, Jagan Reddy, to examine him (Jagan) through video conference. He submitted that the victim/petitioner was not interested in prosecution of the case and was trying to drag the proceedings to avoid his attendance before court.
“Though the victim (Jagan) was living at a distance of only 20km from the court, he is not interested in coming to the court,” the accused said, and prayed to the court to dismiss Jagan’s petition.
However, petitioner/victim, Jagan Reddy’s counsels asked the NIA special court to give some time to come up with more details in the case. Accordingly, the court posted the next hearing to April 17.
