New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to explain why politician Jagan Mohan Reddy, in jail for nearly a year, should not be granted bail.
The CBI has been asked to file its response by May 6 in court.
In the Supreme Court today, Mr Reddy's lawyer quoted a recent newspaper report that said a union minister had suggested in Hyderabad that if Jagan Mohan agrees to join the Congress, the party his father belonged to, he may be able to leave jail.
(Read newspaper report here)The judges want the CBI to explain that statement, which suggests that the investigation against Mr Reddy is being influenced by the government, a charge the politician has made repeatedly.
Mr Reddy, 40, was arrested in Hyderabad for alleged corruption. The CBI says that when his father, YSR Reddy, was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, he pressured companies to invest in his son's vast business empire. In return, YSR allegedly gave them licenses and clearances necessary for their own companies.
YSR died in a helicopter crash in September 2009.
Mr Reddy says that the CBI investigation against him is punishment for his decision to quit the Congress in 2011 to launch his own political party, the YSR Congress.
Jagan Mohan in 2011 declared assets worth Rs. 365 crores.