The court recently stayed the notice till 5 December and extended it further, after hearings on the petition filed by the BJP leader.
Screengrab of the video of the people allegedly involved in the "cash for MLAs" case in Telangana. (Supplied)
The Telangana High Court on Monday, 5 December, stayed the operation of the notice issued by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) under Section 41(A) of CrPC in the infamous Cash for MLAs case to BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh till 13 December.
The court had recently stayed the notice till 5 December, and extended it further on Monday to further hear on the petition filed by the BJP leader.
In another order, the court also stayed the notice issued to Kerala doctor Jaggu Swami under Section 41(A), also till 13 December.
The court also ruled that no coercive action could be taken against Santhosh and Jaggu Swami till then.
As far as Santhosh is concerned, the SIT served the notice to him to appear before it at 10.30 am on 21 November, but he gave it a miss, informing the team that he was busy with other work.
As he did not appear, the SIT moved the high court seeking that it direct Santhosh to appear before it (the SIT), but the court instead asked the team to send a fresh mail to him asking him to appear before it. The court also directed the police that they could not arrest him.
Accordingly, the SIT sent a letter asking Santhosh to appear before it on 26 or 28 November.
Meanwhile, Santhosh filed a petition in the high court seeking a stay on the notices issued to him under Section 41(A).
BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh. (Supplied)
Justice K Surender stayed the notice issued on 25 November, saying that prima facie “the court believed that requirements indicated in the notice under section 41(A) of CrPC to Santhosh are missing”.
He said in his order that it was proper to stay the issue of the notice dated 23 November till the next date of hearing on 5 December.
The judge in his 25 November order ruled that the notice could not be issued under section 41(A) as there were no reasonable grounds or complaints made against Santhosh, nor that it had credible information sufficient enough to summon Santhosh before it.
On 30 November, the SIT submitted a report to the high court with evidence against the accused in the case.
It included audio-visual clips, screenshots of WhatsApp chats, photos, and statements of witnesses.
The SIT identified the seven accused as Ramachandra Bharathi, Nanda Kumar, Simhayaji, BL Santhosh, Tushar Vellappally, Jaggu Swamy, and advocate Bhusarapu Srinivas.
The SIT said Bharathi and Santhosh have known each other for a long time, and produced a record of a WhatsApp chat between them as evidence and a picture of them together taken at Haridwar on 11 April.
The SIT also said that a message was sent by Bharathi to Santhosh on 26 October, giving an update on their attempt to poach MLAs.
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