New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea seeking transfer of the impending trial in the 2015 cash-for-votes against the present Chief Minister of Telangana A Revanth Reddy. The matter came up before a bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta.
The bench issued a notice returnable in four weeks. The plea was filed by Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy and three others through advocate P Mohith Rao. The plea stressed on the need for a free and fair trial and urged the apex court to transfer the case to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The petitioners include a former deputy chief minister and former ministers of Telangana.
The plea said, “The accused No 1, who is the prime accused in CR. No.11/ACB-CR1-HYD/2015, has become the Chief Minister for the State of Telangana and has a criminal case pending against him and under these circumstances, as accused No.1 has direct control over the prosecution it is understood that there cannot be any possibility for free and fair trial, which is the sine qua non of Article 21 of the Constitution”.
The plea said if the trial is continued by the principal judge for the trial of cases at Hyderabad, Telangana then the rule of law will be vitiated and the judicial fairness and criminal justice system would be at stake shaking the confidence of the public at large.
The two cases against which the transfer was sought are the TRS government through the Additional Superintendent of Police vs A Revanth Reddy and others and the TRS government through the Additional Superintendent of Police vs Sandra Venkata Veeraiah. The cases are pending for trial before a special judge in Telangana.
The plea alleged that Reddy was a former member of the Telugu Desam Party and won the Legislative Assembly election for the term 2009-14 and 2014-18 from the Kodangal Assembly Constituency. “Having been elected as an MLA from Telugu Desam Party, the accused No.1 offered a bribe of Rs 50 lakhs as advance as directed by his former boss Nara Chandra Babu Naidu (former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) to Elvis Stephenson/de facto complainant to abstain from casting his vote for the biennial election to be held on 01.06.2015 or to vote in favour of TDP, thereby the accused No.1, along with other accused, committed a cognizable offence to lure the votes of Bharat Rashtra Samithi Party (formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi party) and to see that the representative of Telugu Desam Party wins in the biennial election to be held on 01.06.2015”, said the plea.
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