A court here on Monday dismissed the bail petition of Matrix Group chairman Nimmagadda Prasad, who was arrested a couple of months ago in the assets case against Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagamohan Reddy.

This was the first bail petition moved by Mr. Prasad arguing that he was innocent as his investments in the companies owned by Mr. Jagan were solely with a business motive. He claimed, he did not make the investments as a ‘quid pro quo’ as alleged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI on the other hand, charged him with cornering nearly 24,000 acres of land for the VANPIC (Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor) project in return for investing about Rs. 800 crore in Mr. Jagan’s businesses.