The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday transferred the case on the attack on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
During the previous hearing, Jagan's advocate pleaded for the case to be transferred to the NIA as per the NIA Act. He argued that there was a chance for evidence-tampering if the probe into the case was delayed. With the Centre approving the transferring of the case to the NIA, the High Court decided to hand it over to the national agency.
It may be recalled that Jagan was attacked with a knife on October 25, 2018, by a restaurant worker Srinivasa Rao inside the VIP lounge of the Visakhapatnam airport. Claiming that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Director General of Police R P Thakur and many TDP leaders tried to deflect attention from the case with their statements playing down the "murder attempt", the YSRCP approached the High Court demanding a probe by a national agency on the matter.
On December 31, 2018, the Centre informed the High Court that it had transferred the case to the NIA. Following the Home Ministry's orders, the Hyderabad NIA division filed an FIR on the matter. Mohammed Sajid Khan was appointed as the Chief Investigation Officer.