BJP leader BL Santhosh, BDJS chief Tushar Vellapally and Amrita hospital honcho Jaggu Kottillil fail to appear before investigators.
Supreme Court
A single judge bench of the Telangana will not supervise the Special Investigation Team (SIT)’s probe in the “cash for MLAs” case.
In what is seen as a setback to the BJP, the Supreme Court on Monday, 21 November, exempted the probe from the single judge bench’s supervision.
A Supreme Court bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath freed the probe while considering a petition filed by the three accused, Faridabad-based priest with Kerala roots Ramachandra Bharathi, Tirupati pontiff Simha Yajulu and Hyderabad hotelier Nanda Kumar.
They had sought a stay on the SIT investigation.
Setting aside the single bench’s order, the apex court noted that the SIT itself should supervise its probe. The SIT was free to carry out its investigation. The apex court directed that the SIT should be given a free hand and curbs, if any, should be lifted.
The Supreme Court, while dismissing another application filed by the accused seeking orders annulling their remand, however, directed them to approach the Telangana High Court for bail. It said that it cannot intervene when the investigation of the case was on in Telangana.
In a related development, only the Karimnagar lawyer B Srinivas appeared before the SIT on Monday.
The other three who were summoned for questioning — BJP General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh, Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) president Tushar Vellapally, and Kochi, Kerala-based Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences’ additional general manager Jaggu Jagannathan alias Jaggu Kottillil alias Jaggu Swami did not turn up.
The SIT had served notices under Section 41-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) summoning them to its Command Control Centre in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. The notices were issued after the accused had mentioned their names during their 26 October meeting with four TRS MLAs. The meeting had taken place at a farmhouse in Aziznagar under Moinabad police limits, Cyberabad.
The SIT was trying to ascertain if they were involved in the botched poaching bid, and if so, at whose behest, and their larger plan.
The probe team summoned Srinivas after it was known that he had purchased a flight ticket for Simha Yajulu to Hyderabad from Tirupati on 26 October. The police were looking into the connection between them and why Srinivas had purchased the ticket and whether he had any role in the case.
The SIT, according to sources, wanted to record statements of all four, which would be useful at a later stage. The police expected that if they examined the remaining three, they might get more names which would help them get a larger picture.
Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandradhekar Rao, at a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday, 3 November, 2022, shows “evidence” of people involved in the “cash for MLAs” case being linked directly to the BJP. (Supplied)
Sources said the police were suspecting that Santhosh, Vellapally and Jagannathan were probably trying to use legal loopholes to evade interrogation. With the high court prohibiting coercive action against them — since the notice was served under CrPC 14-A — they need not fear arrest.
But they could not escape the SIT’s interrogation, sources said. One excuse could be to deny receiving the notice.
Vellapally, who lost to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Wayanad, is the convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Kerala.
The police had submitted to the high court that their Delhi counterparts had been creating problems in directly serving the notice. A two-judge bench had told the SIT to send the notice to the Delhi police, who in turn would serve them on the person of interest.
But the SIT has no guarantee on when the Delhi police would serve the notice. Santhosh has been busy campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been busy examining those suspected of FEMA violations in the casino operator Chikoti Praveen case.
After examining Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav’s brothers, the ED summoned his PA Hareesh, Medak DCCB Chairman Ch Devender Reddy, and businessman Buchireddy on Monday. They were asked to produce their bank transaction details.
The ED registered a case of suspected FEMA violations by suspects while organising or taking part in tours to casinos outside India.
The central agency had already questioned TRS MLC L Ramana, who fell ill during interrogation and was admitted to a hospital. The officials also examined B Gurunatha Reddy, former MLA from Anantapur.
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