THE Supreme Court Monday directed the medical examination of YSR Congress rebel MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju at the Army Hospital in Secunderabad, Telangana. He will remain in hospital until further orders from the court.
Raju is presently in judicial custody on sedition and hates speech charges. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had, earlier, rejected his bail plea. He was arrested weeks after seeking the cancellation of bail granted to his party founder, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, in a disproportionate assets case.
A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai, on his appeal, has now directed that his medical examination be conducted by a medical board of three doctors of the hospital, to be constituted by the head of the Army Hospital, Secunderabad.
The bench added that he would be medically examined in the presence of a judicial officer, to be nominated by the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
The top court also directed that the proceedings of Raju’s medical examination be video graphed and submitted to the Registrar General of the Telangana High Court in a sealed cover for being transmitted to the Supreme Court.
The court also issued notice on the plea seeking bail and asked the Andhra Pradesh government to file a reply within two days. The matter has been fixed for hearing on 21.05.2021
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for the petitioner, contended that the case against his client was nothing but political vendetta and that the high court was wrong in denying him bail.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for the state government, sought time to file an affidavit. The court, however, said at present it was more concerned about the petitioner’s medical condition and thus chose to order his medical examination.
