Vijayawada: No conspiracy in Kodi Katthi case, NIA tells court

Vijayawada: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had probed into the attack on Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport popularly known as Kodi Katthi case, made it clear here on Thursday that there was no conspiracy in the Kodi Katthi case and the accused Srinivas was not a sympathiser of TDP. The agency told the court that Harshvardhan, the owner of the airport restaurant, was not affiliated to any political party.

Submitting a counter affidavit in the NIA Court-cum-Metropolitan Session Court to a petition filed by Jagan Mohan Reddy , seeking further investigation into the case, the NIA counsel said that they had gone through all the evidence in the criminal case, including the closed circuit TV footage to unearth the criminal conspiracy as alleged in the social media.

The NIA made it clear that there was no such conspiracy and he acted independently. Moreover, accused Srinivas is an ardent follower and fan of the Jagan Mohan Reddy, the affidavit stated.

It may be recalled that the counsel on behalf of the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Venkateswarlu contended that there was deeper conspiracy behind the attack and some prominent opposition leaders were behind it. There have been social media reports alleging the conspirators were behind the attack.

Advocate Abdul Saleem appearing on behalf of the accused Srinivas, said that it had been their stand that there was no conspiracy of opposition behind the attack and the accused was an innocent person.

The counsel for Chief Minister sought time for presenting their arguments.

The NIA Court posted the case for further hearing on April 17.

J. Srinivas Rao, a worker at the restaurant, had attacked Jagan Mohan Reddy with 'kodi katti' or a small knife used in cockfight, at Visakhapatnam Airport on October 25, 2018. Jagan, then leader of the opposition, had suffered an injury to his arm.

Srinivas' counsel Saleem also filed counter to Jagan Mohan Reddy's petition. He argued that Jagan's petition lacks merits.

Earlier, the NIA court had directed Jagan Mohan Reddy to appear and record his statement on April 10.

He, however, sought exemption from personal appearance on the ground that he has to discharge his duties as the chief minister and also on the ground that his appearance in the court may lead to traffic jam around the court premises and thus, inconvenience the people.

The Chief Minister requested the court to appoint an advocate commissioner to record his statement.