Cash For MLAs: Those who made allegations against me will face consequences, says BL Santhosh

Santhosh said that the BRS government and its leaders have become a curse on democracy and have harmed Telangana Thalli.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Dec 29, 2022 | 11:10 PMUpdatedDec 30, 2022 | 10:10 PM

BL Santhosh made these remarks when he was speaking at the RSS Vistarak conference in Hyderabad. (BJP Telangana/Twitter)

Taking serious exception to the Telangana government dragging his name into the “Cash for MLAs” scam, BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh on Thursday, 29 December, said that those who made allegations against him would face the consequences.

According to sources, the BJP leader, while speaking at the party’s Vistarak conference in Hyderabad, said that those who accused him of playing a part in the attempt to poach BRS MLAs should explain how he had plotted it.

He said that the BRS government and its leaders have become a curse on democracy. They are distributing the money that they are raising in Telangana to all parts of the country, he said, and pointed out that he has all the information with him.

The BJP leader said that the BRS has harmed Telangana. He added that though he always maintained a low profile, the BRS had taken his name to each and every household in the state with false allegations.

The BJP leader said that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had plundered the state in the name of the Telangana movement and he claimed that he had proof of it.

The Cash For MLAs case

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the state government, had served a notice under Section 41A of Code of Criminal Procedure to Santhosh, asking him to appear before it as they had evidence that he was part of the attempt to poach the BRS MLAs.

The BJP leader then sought and obtained a stay on the notice from the Telangana High Court till 30 December. On 28 December, the court annulled this very SIT and transferred the case to the CBI, which will begin its investigation into the case afresh, unless the state government gets a stay from a division bench.

As the SIT itself stands scrapped, the notice issued to him has become infructuous.

Also Read: BJP exposed itself by celebrating transfer of case to CBI: KTR

Why case was transferred

Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court, in his 98-page report, listed the reasons for transferring the investigation in the “Cash for MLAs” case to the CBI.

Among these is the state government’s failure to inform the court of the person behind the leak of evidence in the case, which was allegedly given to the chief minister.

The judge found that revealing investigation details to the chief minister was objectionable. He noted that the evidence should have been with the investigating officials.

The court noted that the investigation agency should not have revealed details of its probe to anyone. Unfortunately, evidence in the case was leaked even in the initial stages of the probe, it said.

It looks as though the investigation done by the SIT was not transparent, the court noted. If the evidence leaves the police department, the investigation cannot proceed along the right lines, it added.

The court said that under Articles 20 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, the accused in a case could seek fair investigation.