On January 11, 2022, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy was summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in connection with the 2018 knife attack case. The NIA court has asked him to appear before it on January 18, 2022.
The case dates back to October 25, 2018, when Jaganmohan Reddy was attacked with a knife by a man named Srinivas Rao at the Visakhapatnam airport in Andhra Pradesh. The attacker, who was working as a waiter at a restaurant in the airport, reportedly approached Jaganmohan Reddy for a selfie and then stabbed him in the arm.
The incident sparked a political controversy, with the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alleging that the attack was orchestrated by the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which is led by Jaganmohan Reddy. The TDP claimed that Jaganmohan Reddy had staged the attack to gain sympathy ahead of the 2019 general elections.
However, the YSRCP denied the allegations and accused the TDP of trying to malign Jaganmohan Reddy’s image. The case was initially investigated by the Andhra Pradesh police, but it was later transferred to the NIA on the request of the state government.
The NIA has been investigating the case for over two years now and has arrested several people in connection with the attack. In July 2021, Srinivas Rao, the attacker, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Visakhapatnam.
The summons to Jaganmohan Reddy by the NIA court has come as a surprise to many, as he was not named as an accused in the case earlier. However, reports suggest that the NIA wants to question him in connection with some of the statements made by the accused during his interrogation.
Jaganmohan Reddy has not yet commented on the summons, but his party has accused the TDP of using the NIA for political vendetta. The TDP, on the other hand, has welcomed the development and demanded a thorough investigation into the case.
The summons to Jaganmohan Reddy is likely to have political implications in Andhra Pradesh, where the YSRCP is in power. The TDP has been alleging that the YSRCP is involved in several corruption cases and has been demanding a CBI probe into them. The summons to Jaganmohan Reddy is likely to give more ammunition to the TDP to attack the YSRCP.
In conclusion, the summons to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy by the NIA court in connection with the 2018 knife attack case has come as a surprise to many. The case has been a political controversy since its inception, and the summons is likely to have political implications in Andhra Pradesh. It remains to be seen how Jaganmohan Reddy and his party will respond to this development.
