Setback for Cash-for-MLAs complainant Rohith Reddy: HC rejects plea to quash ED case against him

The high court also refused to stay the operation of the notice issued to him to appear before the ED on 30 December.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Dec 28, 2022 | 6:26 PMUpdatedDec 28, 2022 | 6:26 PM

BRS Tandur MLA Rohith Reddy is a complainant in the Cash For MLAs case. (Pilot Rohith Reddy/Twitter)

In a setback to BRS Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday, 28 December, refused to quash the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case against him in the “Cash for MLAs” case and adjourned the next hearing to 5 January, 2023.

The high court also refused to stay the operation of the notice issued to him to appear before the ED on 30 December.

The ED submitted to the court that it issued a fresh notice to him to appear before them on Friday after he ignored their earlier notice to appear on Tuesday.

A case of harassment?

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the “Cash for MLAs” case did not come under the ED’s jurisdiction since no cash transaction had taken place.

He said that his client was offered ₹100 crore, but the money was not given to him.

As no transaction took place, the case did not attract the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, he said.

Maintaining that the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) No: 48/2022 registered against Rohith Reddy did not come under the PMLA, the counsel insisted that the ED was harassing his client for his personal information.

After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the case to 5 January.

Making his case

In his petition, Rohith Reddy argued that the ED had no jurisdiction over the “Cash for MLAs” case and that it was ultra vires. He also said that he was being persecuted with malicious intent.

He said that the speed with which the ED acted roused suspicions about its intent. An ECIR was registered on 15 December, and he was summoned on the same day.

Rohith Reddy, in his petition, pointed to the tug-of-war going on between the BRS and the BJP, which run the state and Central governments, respectively.

He also expressed his doubt over whether the investigation — which has now been handed over to the CBI — would be fair as the Supreme Court itself had once described, in the past, the CBI as a “caged parrot”.

Also Read: ‘Cash for MLAs’ complainant Rohith Reddy grilled by ED on Day 2

He said that his fears are reasonable since his complaint to the Moinabad police — regarding the BJP emissaries who had tried to poach him — had embarrassed the saffron party.

He also alleged that the ED had been deployed to harass him, and hence his appeal for protection.

Rohith Reddy was so confident that the high court would issue directions in his favour that he did not appear before the ED on Tuesday despite being summoned.

According to sources, the ED officials were annoyed over his decision not to present himself before them.

Fear of implication

On an earlier occasion, Rohith Reddy expressed fear that he might be implicated in the PMLA case since the ED officials were questioning Nanda Kumar Kore — one of the accused in the “Cash of MLAs” case.

ED officials recorded Kore’s statement regarding his alleged financial deals with Rohith Reddy and his brother Rithesh Reddy.

His fear was that the ED might base its further moves against him based on Kore’s statement.

ED officials asked Kore how he and the two other accused in the case (who are out on bail) proposed to raise ₹250 crore, of which ₹100 crore was offered to Rohith Reddy and ₹50 crore each to the remaining three MLAs.