Counsel for Telangana Dushyant Dave asked how the case could be handed over to CBI when all the evidence is against the BJP.
Screengrab of the video of the people allegedly involved in the "cash for MLAs" case in Telangana. (Supplied)
Challenging the Telangana High Court’s order transferring the investigation into the ‘Cash for MLAs’ case to the CBI, the state government on Friday, 17 February, sought to know in the Supreme Court how such an order could be issued when the evidence in the case was against the BJP.
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Manoj Mishra, after hearing both sides, adjourned the case to 27 February.
Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Telangana government, argued against the transfer of the case to the CBI while the counsel for BJP Mahesh Jethmalani said that it deserved to be investigated by the central agency as the chief minister of Telangana had himself made public the details of the case and the evidence gleaned by the state police.
Dave defended the state government for constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case as the charges against the accused were very serious and might portend danger to democracy.
While he argued that the steps the state government had taken were in the right direction, Jethmalani pointed out that the chief minister had sent the details and evidence in the case to all the media houses and courts all over the country.
Dave, in his argument, said that he was in possession of the incriminating evidence of five hours of video, call data, WhatsApp messages and wondered how the case could be transferred to the CBI when the evidence clearly indicated the culpability of the BJP, which rules at the Centre and controls the agency.
He said that the CBI and ED were leaking information to the media and sought the court to at least restrain the CBI from exerting pressure and sought more time for putting forth his argument.
When the apex court heard the case on 7 and 8 February, Dave and Sidharth Luthra had argued that if the investigation goes into the hands of the central agency, it might go in the wrong direction. They had sought the court to stay the order of the Telangana High Court.
They had submitted to the apex court notice that CBI had already begun exerting pressure on the state government to hand over all documents pertaining to the case and hence the request for a stay.
At that time the apex court, while refusing to stay the high court order, however, allayed the fears of the senior counsels that if the investigation went in the wrong direction, the court could always reverse it.
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