Justice K. Lakshman was dealing with the both bail petitions.
Senior counsel T. Niranjan Reddy appearing for both the petitioners argued that hearsay evidence is not valid under law. Both petitioners were being arrayed as accused in the said case only on the statement of the accused-turned-approver Dastagiri, he said. Further he submitted that without authentic confirmation from Google, the CBI has stated that the petitioners lived close to Vivekananda Reddy’s house and based on the said contention they were sent to jail. Stating that this was a biased approach and invalid in law, the senior counsel sought bail to the two.
Senior counsel also faulted the arguments of the slain leader’s daughter Dr Suneetha Reddy, who had no objections to the bail granted to Dastagiri, who is also accused in her father’s murder. She had also challenged the anticipatory bail granted to Avinash Reddy. He argued that the CBI was unnecessarily giving importance to Dastagiri’s statements without any collaborative evidence.
He urged the court to grant bail to the petitioners as Bhaskar Reddy was aged around 72 years and has not been keeping good health.
After hearing the contentions of all sides, the judge reserved orders in the bail petitions.
