Hyderabad: The Nampally court has directed Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to attend the hearing of the cash-for-vote-case on October 16. Accused Mattaiah Jerusalem was present at the hearing held on Tuesday in Nampally Metropolitan Sessions Court while Revanth Reddy, Uday Simha, Sandra Venkata Veeraiah and Sebastian were not present. The court expressed its displeasure as to why the accused were not present.
At this stage, the court allowed the pleas filed by the accused seeking exemption from today's trial and ordered all the accused, along with Revanth Reddy, to appear on October 16 for the hearing on the registration of charges.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court has recently dismissed the petition filed by BRS senior leader and former minister G Jagdish Reddy to transfer the cash-for-vote case, which created a sensation in Telugu states from Telangana to Bhopal court.
The court said that there was no need to transfer the case to Bhopal and that the petition was filed without clear evidence with speculative elements. It concluded that it could not intervene at this stage. The Nampally court has ordered Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to attend the next hearing.
It is known that the ACB registered a case against the then TDP legislator Revanth Reddy for allegedly offering money to the nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to help TDP in the MLC elections held in Telangana in 2015.
The videos of Revanth Reddy with money in Stephenson's house became a sensation at that time. The anti-corruption department, which has registered a case, is conducting an investigation.
As part of this, the Nampally court has issued summons to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Sebastian, Uday Simha, Mathaiah Jerusalem and Sandra Venkata Veeraiah.