The AG argued that the ACB court exceeded its jurisdiction in dismissing the memo issued by the SIT probing the case.
Screengrab of the video of the people allegedly involved in the "cash for MLAs" case in Telangana. (Supplied)
The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, 7 December, heard arguments on a petition filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) challenging the dismissal of its memo in the special court for the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) cases in which the police had named BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, Kerala doctor Jaggu Swamy, BDJS president Thushar Vellapally, and advocate B Srinivas as the accused.
The court, after arguments, said that it would continue hearing the SIT’s lunch motion petition on Thursday.
The Advocate General argued that the ACB court had exceeded its jurisdiction in dismissing the memo the SIT had filed while the advocate representing the four persons whom the police sought to name as accused, supported the ACB court’s order.
The ACB court on Tuesday dismissed the memo which the police filed on 22 November, observing that the four persons named in the memo were neither present at the time of the occurrence of the alleged crime — an attempt to poach four TRS MLAs at a farmhouse on 26 October — nor any money was found at the spot where the crime was allegedly committed.
The police had also moved an application for the issue of warrants to arrest Thushar and Jaggu Swamy.
The SIT argued that they “chatted” on WhatsApp with the three accused in the case — Ramachandra Bharati, Simhayaji, and Nanda Kumar — for purchasing the MLAs. The SIt argued that the bigger conspiracy was to bring down the elected government in the state.
Arguments also took place on the “leak” of contents of the SIT’s report submitted to the Court.
The SIT’s advocate argued that on the same day copies of the report were supplied to the petitioner through whom they may have gone out.
He also said that since they had given a copy of the SIT’s report to legislator Pilot Rohit Reddy, who is the complainant in the “Cash for MLAs” case, it may have found its way from him to the chief minister.
He also recalled that Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand had issued a statement on the same day that the report did not leak from SIT.
Meanwhile, the advocate representing B Srinivas, one of the suspects in the case, who appeared before the SIT after he received notices under Section 41 (A), urged the court to transfer the investigation to the CBI for transparency.
Srinivas’ counsel alleged that the Telangana government was trying to use the case to derive political advantage. The court adjourned the next hearing to 9 December.
In a related development, Simhayaji, one of the accused in the case, came out of jail on bail on Wednesday.
The court granted him bail on Tuesday and as soon as the relevant documents reached the Chanchalguda prison, he was released.
The other two accused – Ramachandra Bharati and Nanda Kumar are still in jail though they had been granted bail because they figure in other cases registered in Banjara Hills police station.
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