No coercive action by SIT on BL Santhosh: Court rules on T'gana MLA poacing case

As per the sources, the SIT has issued a notice under CrPC 41A to Santosh to appear before the investigators at 10.30 am on the 21st of November at the office of SIT in Command Control.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday ordered that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the alleged poaching of TRS MLAs by the BJP, should not make arrests or initiate coercive action against BJP National General Secy (Org) B L Santhosh. The High Court has also ordered the Delhi police to help the SIT in serving notices to BL Santosh.

Earlier in the day, the Telangana SIT summoned BJP national general secretary BL Santosh and two others accused of being involved in the poaching case. As per the sources, the SIT has issued a notice under CrPC 41A to Santosh to appear before the investigators at 10.30 am on the 21st of November at the office of SIT in Command Control.

It is learnt that notices were also issued to Srinivas, a lawyer from Karimnagar and a relative of the state president of a national party in the case on the same day. Meanwhile, Telangana BJP has filed an interim petition in the High Court against the SIT notices. Party General Secretary Premender Reddy filed the petition on behalf of the BJP.

The petitioner alleged that the SIT is harassing the BJP leaders by issuing notices and harassing the "people who are not related to the case in the name of investigation”. The Telangana government on November 10 set up a 7-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged poaching of TRS MLAs. The SIT headed by Hyderabad City Police Commissioner CV Anand has Nalgonda SP Rema Rajeshwari, Cyberabad DCP (Crime) Kalmeshwar Shingenawar and Shamshabad DCP R Jagadishwar Reddy as its members among others.

The three accused Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy were booked under relevant sections for criminal conspiracy, offering bribes and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for allegedly trying to lure four TRS MLAs to join the BJP. The poaching case was filed on October 26 based on a complaint from TRS Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy.