Telangana High Court Transfers BRS MLA Poaching Case To Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
The Telangana High Court today transferred the probe into a case related to the alleged attempts to poach 4 MLAs of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi), to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The bench of Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy passed this order while dissolving the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was probing the case till now. This development...
The Telangana High Court today transferred the probe into a case related to the alleged attempts to poach 4 MLAs of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi), to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The bench of Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy passed this order while dissolving the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was probing the case till now.
This development comes days after the Supreme Court directed the single judge to consider the writ petition filed by three accused in the case -Ramachandra Bharti, Kore Nandu Kumar, and D. P. S. K. V. N. Simhayaji seeking the probe to be transferred to the CBI on its own merits and in accordance with the law expeditiously within a period of 4 weeks.
The background of the case
On October 26, Pilot Rohith Reddy, MLA, Tandur Assembly, lodged a first information report alleging that three accused persons met him and asked him to not contest as a candidate of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party.
Instead, he was allegedly asked to resign from the BRS and join the BJP and offered an "amount of Rs 100 crores besides contract works of the Central government".
Reddy further alleged that the accused persons threatened to foist criminal cases on him in case he did not agree to their proposal. Pursuant to his complaint, Moinabad Police Station registered an FIR under Sections 120B, 171B, 171E, and 506 of the IPC r/w Section 34 of the IPC and under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Subsequently, the BJP filed a writ petition before the single judge of the Telangana High Court praying for the entrusting of investigation of the matter to an SIT/CBI to ensure a free and fair probe.
On November 15, the Telangana High Court allowed the state government-constituted Special Investigation Team to continue its probe into the MLA poaching case, and also ordered that a single judge of the court would monitor the progress of the investigation.
However, on November 21, the Supreme Court quashed the directions passed by the Telangana High Court and directed it to decide the plea for the CBI probe moved by three accused in the matter.
On November 25, the Telangana High Court stayed the notice issued by the Special Investigation Team to BJP's National General Secretary B.L. Santhosh in connection with the ongoing investigation in the alleged TRS MLA poaching case. Earlier this month, the High Court granted bail to three accused.