YS Jagan Attack: NIA Probe Gathers Pace

Visakhapatnam: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the murder attempt on Leader of the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly and YSR Congress party chief, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has gathered momentum, it is learnt. After taking the attacker, Srinivasa Rao into custody with due permission from the court, the NIA officials took him to the scene of the crime at Visakhapatnam airport.

The NIA team is now questioning other witnesses in the case. The investigating officials have been camping at Kailasagiri in the police headquarters here for the past four days. They have also set up a temporary office here and have continued their work, unhampered by Sankranthi holidays.

Curb On Coffee From Outside

It is learnt that YSR Congress party leaders and workers who were present at the airport when the murderous attack on YS Jagan took place, were also being questioned. Krishna Kanth working in the party office here was called in for questioning on Tuesday, in this context. Similarly, a former YSRCP corporator, J. Sridhar was also summoned for questioning on Tuesday evening.

Sridhar told the NIA officials that coffee for YS Jagan was always prepared in his house and then served at the airport from the time that the YSRCP chief started visiting the Visakhapatnam airport as part of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra in Northern Andhra Pradesh.

"However, exactly a week before the murder attempt on YS Jagan, airport security officer, Venugopal who was very close to the owner of Fusion Foods restaurant, stopped me from bringing coffee from home for the AP Leader of Opposition.

He also suspended two Air India staffers who served coffee brought from my house, for a week. He imposed a condition that it should be brought from Fusion Foods. The same week Srinivasa Rao attacked the YSRCP chief," Sridhar told NIA officials.

It is learnt that the NIA team told the witnesses that neither officials of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the AP government nor the higher ups of Visakhapatnam police extended their cooperation to the NIA. "They did not reveal anything with respect to the case to us. Hence, please tell us what happened," NIA officials are learnt to have said to the witnesses.

The NIA is also probing the details of the 11 page letter purportedly recovered from the attacker, Srinivasa Rao. The investigating team on Wednesday summoned Revathi Prasad working in Fusion Foods, who claimed that she wrote 2 pages of the letter and questioned her on the veracity of her claim. They also asked her whether the letter was on Srinivasa Rao's person at the time that he carried out the attack on YS Jagan.

Notice To Fusion Foods Owner, Harshavardhan Chowdary

NIA officials have summoned the owner of Fusion Foods and TDP leader Harshavardhan Chowdary, considered to be a key person with respect to the case. 15 others including his employees and other witnesses were accordingly summoned to appear before the NIA on Thursday and Friday. It is learnt that questioning Harshavardhan Chowdary would yield some important clues.

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