In 2017, after the ghastly Diwakar Travels bus tragedy, the then Opposition Leader Jaganmohan Reddy barged into the mortuary at the General Hospital. He also snatched documents from officials and threatened the then District Collector Ahmad Babu. There were videos showing that Jagan had intimidated and threatened to send the Collector to the Central Jail. The police filed a case against Jagan based on the evidence available.
It may be recalled that Ahmad Babu was known as one of the favourite IAS officers during the Chandrababu Naidu regime. So, after coming to power, CM Jagan did not give immediate posting to him. After a few months, Ahmad Babu had to do lobbying with the YCP leaders for regaining a post in the Government. He was carrying out his duties as usual.
Now, all of a sudden, the Krishna district police closed the intimidation case filed against the CM. The CI concerned has filed the charge sheet stating that it was a ‘mistake of facts’. The charge sheet said that there was no intimidation involved since Jagan Reddy was just trying to get real facts regarding how the bus mishap took place. The police did not even serve notice to the prime accused Jagan in the case. At one stage, the court wondered how to give bail to the other accused when the main accused was not served notice and not given bail.
Political circles are full of rumours that this case was hastily closed in view of the impending threat of speeding up cases against the MLAs and the MPs as ordered by the Supreme Court of India.
Jagan case in Collector intimidation closed
Diwakar Travels: High Court questions AP Govt’s clean chit
High Court questioned the Andhra Pradesh state authorities for giving a clean chit to Diwakar Travels. The court asked the state government in what way did the authorities give a clean chit to Diwakar Travels bus which met with an accident killing 11 people at Moolapadu village in Penuganchiprolu mandal of Krishna district. It questioned the authorities on implementation of the motor transport workers Act, 1961.
The court in its previous hearing directed the governments of Telugu states to file affidavits seeking implementation of the Act, particularly about Diwakar Travels bus accident. Telangana government in its report to the court said that the bus was not registered in the State under the Act even though it is running operations from Hyderabad. It also said that they found many gaps in the Travels in the implementation of the Act.
On the other hand, the Andhra Pradesh government gave a clean chit in its affidavit, stating there were no irregularities committed by Diwakar Travels and that there were two drivers with valid licences on the bus on the day of the accident.
The court held that it is wrong on the part of Andhra Pradesh officials to assume that everything is fine with the firm, despite being aware of the fact that the bus was not registered under the relevant Act either of the states.
The bench comprising of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice T Rajani on Tuesday probed the AP’s advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas while hearing a public interest petition.
Advocate General of AP acknowledged that there is a problem in the affidavit filed and sought three weeks’ time to file another detailed affidavit. This bus and the travel firm belongs to AP’s Anantapur MP J C Diwakar Reddy’s family.
