A single-judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, comprising Justice M. Venkata Ramana, reserved the order on former Minister and TDP MLA K. Atchannaidu's bail plea for July 29 after the conclusion of arguments in the ESI scam case on Monday.
Mr. Atchannaidu has appealed to the court to let him out on bail on health grounds. He is accused of causing a loss of nearly ₹150 crore to the State exchequer by awarding contracts for the procurement of medical supplies and services required by ESI hospitals, in a fraudulent manner to some companies when he was the Minister for Labour in the previous government.
‘Political influence’
Advocate-General (A-G) S. Sriram contended that what started with fissures (for which Mr. Atchannaidu had purportedly undergone surgery) led to a hospital certifying different illnesses including an advice for an angiogram test and it shows his ‘political influence’.
He said the cadres of a party took to the streets claiming that Mr. Atchannaidu was innocent and a media trial was conducted over the government doctors’ medical report. This exerted pressure on all agencies of the State.
“If Mr. Atchannaidu can organise it while being in custody, he can scuttle the probe in the event of grant of bail,” the A-G stressed.
Mr. Atchannaidu complained to the court that he was forcibly discharged from the Government General Hospital in Guntur in spite of his frail health and without testing him for COVID.
He was later admitted to Ramesh Hospitals in Guntur as per the court’s direction for better treatment.
