2018 Kodi Kathi case: AP HC grants bail to accused Srinivas Rao

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court granted conditional bail to J Srinivas Rao aka Srinu, an accused in the rooster knife (kodi kathi) attack case against chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport on October 25, 2018.

The court granted Srinu conditional bail and directed him not to discuss the case with the media. The court also made it clear that Srinu must appear before the Mummidivaram police every Sunday. On several occasions, he appealed to the Visakhapatnam NIA Court seeking relief for him in the case and even wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court urging him to release him from jail in July 2023.

No response from Supreme Court

So far, there has been no response from the Supreme Court in this regard. After the Visakhapatnam NIA court rejected his bail plea citing certain provisions of Section 6A(b) of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act of 1982, Srinu approached the High Court. Recently, the court conducted an inquiry into the bail petition filed by Srinu.

During the inquiry, Srinu’s advocate informed the court that YS Jagan was not appearing before the court to give his statement because Srinu had been languishing in jail for the last four-and-a-half years. After hearing arguments made on behalf of the parties, the court reserved the case for orders.

It may be recalled that the Andhra Pradesh High Court cancelled the bail granted by NIA Court for Srinivasa Rao in July 2019. However, a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, comprising Justices U Durga Prasad Rao and Kiranmayee Mandava, on January 24 reserved its judgment on a criminal appeal for bail filed by Srinu. On Thursday, the High Court granted bail to Srinu and directed him to pay Rs 25,000 and submit a surety of two persons.