TRS MLAs Poaching Case : Telangana High Court Bars Arrest Of BJP Leader BL Santhosh, Asks Him To Appear Before SIT & Cooperate With Investigation

The Telangana High Court on Saturday restrained the Special Investigation Team from arresting BJP's national general secretary BL Santhosh in relation with the alleged TRS MLAs poaching case. The Court passed this direction taking note of the fact that a notice of appearance under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been served on Santhosh.

Further, the Court directed that Santhosh should appear before the Telangana Police SIT complying with the Section 41A notice issued on November 16.

"As the SIT issued notice under Section 41A CrPC, the noticee (Santhosh) shall not be arrested until further orders. The noticee shall comply with the conditions imposed by the SIT under Section 41A notice dated 16.11.2022...Noticee shall co-operate with the SIT authorities as directed under the notice", the order stated.

A bench of Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy passed the interim order on an application filed by the BJP seeking to stay the notice issued under Section 41A of the CrPC, as per which Santhosh was required to appear before the SIT on November 21 in connection with the investigation in the case.

The Court said that Santhosh need not have any apprehension of arrest because when a notice under Section 41A is issued, the arrest of the person is not required.

In the interim application, the State BJP represented by its general secretary Gujjula Premendar Reddy, contended that the SIT was dragging high party functionaries into the case and was issuing notices to unconnected persons. Senior Advocate V Chitambaresh, appearing for the BJP, argued that the SIT should have taken permission from the division bench, which is monitoring the investigation, before issuing the Section 41A notice. He also contended that Section 41A notice is issued to an accused, and if the SIT was fair in its investigation, it would have issued notice under Section 160 CrPC(notice to witness).

Advocate General BS Prasad and the Additional Advocate General J Ramachandra Rao told the bench that BL Santhosh need not have any apprehension of arrest at this point of time. They submitted that the SIT has found the role of Santhosh in the investigation and hence the notice was issued to him for further investigation. The State also questioned the locus of the BJP in challenging the notice and stated that Santhosh should have filed an independent writ petition if he was aggrieved. In response, Chitambaresh submitted that Santhosh was the national general secretary of the BJP.

The Court has listed the matter next on November 22.

Last week, a division bench of the High Court had rejected the appeal made by the BJP seeking to transfer the probe to CBI. While allowing the SIT to continue with the probe under the monitoring of the High Court, the division bench however directed that it should not report to any political or executive authority. The Court also prohibited the SIT from leaking the materials collected during the investigation.