The court wanted to know how media got the notices issued to the BJP leader and Karimnagar lawyer B Srinivas.
Upholding the decision taken by the special court for CBI cases to reject the bail, the Telangana High Court said the bail could not be granted. (Creative Commons)
The High Court of Telangana on Saturday, 19 November, directed the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the state police probing the ‘Cash for MLAs’ case not to initiate any coercive action against BL Santhosh, BJP’s national general secretary in charge of organisational matters.
The court said the SIT cannot make any arrests until further orders. The police were also told to inform their Delhi counterpart not to arrest Santhosh.
The court maintained that under Section 41 (A) of the CrPC, under which the notice was served, the police cannot arrest anyone.
The SIT has issued a notice to Santhosh, asking him to appear before it in Hyderabad on Monday, 21 November.
BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh. (Supplied)
The notice, dated 16 November and signed by B Gangadhar, the investigating officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police, warned the BJP leader that in the event of his failure to comply with the notice, he would be liable to be arrested under Section 41-A (3) and (4) of CrPC.
On Saturday, the court heard arguments on two petitions, one filed by the SIT and the other, the BJP’s interlocutory petition, in the case.
On the BJP’s interlocutory petition filed on Friday, the high court said that it cannot suspend the notice issued to Santhosh. The court also sought to know how the media got the notices issued to Santhosh and Karimnagar lawyer B Srinivas
The high court asked the Delhi police to cooperate with the SIT and directed the Telangana police to forward the notice to the Delhi police, who would, in turn, send it to the person concerned.
The interlocutory petition was filed — in addition to the earlier ones — seeking a high court directive for a CBI probe into the case.
The SIT alleged in its petition that the Delhi police were not cooperating in serving the notices directly on the suspects. The court adjourned further hearings in the case to Tuesday, 22 November.
The BJP argued in the interlocutory petition that the SIT was trying to serve notices on those not connected with the case and that its aim appeared to be to defame the party.
In its second petition, the BJP contended that the SIT was leaking information to the media in violation of the court’s directive. Such an act, the party argued, has cast doubts on the transparency in the conduct of the probe.
Meanwhile, notices sent to BL Santhosh and Advocate Srinivas had the same mobile number, 9449831415, which created confusion.
The notices asked both of them to bring their cell phones with the same mobile number and the same IMEI number!
It was not known if it was a mistake or if the police had done it on purpose as part of their investigation.
The police have also served notices on Jaggu Jagannath, the general manager of Amrita Hospital in Kochi, Kerala, and BDJS leader Thushar Vellappally to appear before the SIT on November 21.
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 19, 2024
May 19, 2024
May 19, 2024
