New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to three accused in the alleged ₹3,500 crore liquor scam in Andhra Pradesh. They had been directed by the High Court to surrender.
The matter came before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.
However, the bench refused to interfere with the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order, which had cancelled the default bail (statutory bail) granted to the accused. The Supreme Court directed the accused to approach the trial court for regular bail.
On November 19 last year, the High Court had cancelled the default bail and directed them to surrender before the trial court on November 26 and apply for regular bail.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued notices to Andhra Pradesh and others on the petitions filed by Balaji Govindappa, Pellakuru Krishna Mohan Reddy, and K. Dhananjay Reddy, and stayed their surrender until further orders. Dhananjay Reddy is a retired IAS officer and was a secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office. Krishna Mohan Reddy was the OSD to the then Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and Balaji Govindappa was a director of Bharati Cements.
The prosecution has alleged a political-business nexus involving manipulation of liquor procurement between 2019 and 2024 (during the previous YSRCP government), suppressing popular brands, giving preferential treatment to new labels, and systematically collecting bribes.
