Jagan Mohan Reddy walks out of jail after 16 months

Mangalore Today News Network

Hyderabad, Sep 24, 2013: Arms raised in greeting as he repeatedly bowed and waved to the sea of people that surrounded him, Jagan Mohan Reddy stepped out of Hyderabad’s Chanchulguda jail in a trademark light blue shirt, a big smile on his face.

The YSR Congress leader was in jail for 16 months.

Once he stepped out of the prison gates, the 40-year-old was literally carried to his car by hundreds of supporters who had gathered to greet them, among them MPs and MLAs from his party. He is expected to go to his residence in Banjara Hills in a slow procession with thousands of his supporters lining the route.

Mr Reddy was granted bail yesterday.

Though the court has ordered Mr Reddy not to leave Hyderabad while out on bail, his release is expected to give a big fillip to the protests in the Seemandhra region against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to carve out a separate Telangana. The YSR Congress is the only party that has unambiguously taken a stand against the move to bifurcate the state.

Mr Reddy was arrested in May last year. The CBI alleges that private firms and individuals invested in his companies as a quid pro quo for government favours when his father, YS Rajasekhara Reddy was Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister.

The TDP has called his getting bail "match-fixing". The party’s chief Chandrababu Naidu said, "The way bail was granted to him and the manner in which the chargesheet against him was diluted only shows that there is a clear understanding between YSR Congress and Congress."

Courtesy: NDTV