The Nampally CBI court has dismissed the petitions filed by Sakshi group for ‘defreezing’ the bank accounts of the firms. The court rejected all three petitions filed by Jagathi Publications, Indira Television and Janani Infra.
The CBI argued that if the accused were allowed to use the money, then it would be difficult for CBI to protect public interest, as these funds were sourced through misappropriation of power.
The accounts of the Sakshi group with the State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) were frozen by an order of the CBI to the respective banks on May 8. In all the CBI has frozen 11 current accounts having `113 crore, including `103 crore in a fixed deposit account in the SBI.
The court decision is one more setback to Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has been hoping that some kind of relief would be provided by the court. The Sakshi management might go for an appeal, but the media house is already feeling the funds crunch.
The attempts of the Sakshi think-tank to get some relief through the agitations by the journalists unions and its well-wishers against the CBI move do not seem to be going anywhere.
If Sakshi fails to get relief even after the appeal, Jagan and Vijaya Sai Reddy will have to look at ways and means to procure funds to run the show uninterrupted. It is to be seen how they will come up with a solution to this pressing problem.
