The Supreme Court today adjourned till September 28 the bail plea of YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy in the alleged multi-crore disproportionate assets scam being probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai, however, directed the CBI to place before it an application moved before a special court in Hyderabad for purportedly summoning key witness, Y. Suryanarayana Reddy, in the alleged scam.

The apex court passed the direction after senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam and counsel Gopal Shankarnarayan pleaded for the bail on the ground that Jagan was in judicial custody and already three chargesheets have been filed against him by the agency.

Subramaniam also assailed the summoning order issued by the special CBI judge to Suryanarayana Reddy, to record his statement under section 164 CrPC.

Counsel contended that if such an order is passed by the special judge, it is unheard of as there is no provision under 164 CrPC to issue summons to a witness.

In other words, it was argued that a statement under 164 CrPC can be recorded only voluntarily and not through summons.

At this stage, the Bench said it would examine the said summoning order and accordingly directed the CBI to place on record before it the application moved by the agency before the special judge for summoning of the witness.

During the argument, the Bench also observed that “Mr Gopal Subramaniam, with your wide experience you know that resourceful persons even while sitting in the jail can get their things done outside.”

Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain appeared for the CBI.

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