MLAs’ poaching case: T’gana HC adjourns hearing on BJP plea

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday adjourned hearing to Monday on a BJP petition seeking probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or sitting judge into the alleged attempt to buy four MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The court also adjourned the hearing on the petitions of the wife of one of the accused and others.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy made it clear that the stay on the investigation in the case will continue till the next hearing.

As the state government has filed an elaborate counter, the counsel for the BJP sought time to go through the same and prepare for arguments. The court agreed to give the time till Monday.

Additional Advocate General Ramachandra Rao requested the court to lift the stay on the investigation, but the court ruled that the stay will continue till next hearing.

The Additional Advocate General also sought the permission to file petition for police custody of the three accused, but the court refused to give the permission

Journalist Chintapandu Naveen alias Teenmaar Malanna also filed a petition to implead himself in the case. Mallanna’s counsel submitted that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao tried to influence the judiciary in the case.

At a press conference on Thursday, the chief minister had released the evidence in the case. He said this has been submitted to the Telangana High Court and also sent to the Chief Justice of India, all Supreme Court judges, chief justices of all high courts and various agencies.

Alleging that democracy was under threat, he appealed to the judiciary to protect it.

The high court on October 29 had stayed the ongoing investigation into the case and asked the state government and other respondents to file the counter by November 4.

Another single judge bench of the High Court on the same day set aside the order of a lower court rejecting remand for the three accused. The judge asked the lower court to demand the accused to judicial custody upon their production by the police.

Cyberabad police subsequently arrested Ramachandra Bharathi alias Satish Sharma, Kore Nanda Kumar alias Nandu and Simhayaji and produced before the First Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases who sent them to judicial custody for two weeks.

The three accused said to be BJP agents were arrested by the police from a farmhouse at Moinabad near Hyderabad on the night of October 26 when they were allegedly trying to lure four MLAs of TRS with offers of huge money.

Cyberabad police conducted the raid on a tip-off by Pilot Rohit Reddy, one of the MLAs. He alleged that the accused offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three others.

The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act.