Hyderabad: The High Court on Tuesday questioned BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh as to why there is a problem in attending the hearing in the case of baiting of MLAs, recommending he simply attend the inquiry and reveal the details he knows. The court further highlighted that he has protection from arrest and the liberty to ask for two more days if needed.
Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was hearing the petition filed by BJP state general secretary G. Premender Reddy challenging the issuing of SIT notices, petitions filed by the state government regarding Delhi Police's non-cooperation with the investigation of the case, and the petitions filed by the accused.
When the judge inquired about the order given by the Supreme Court in this case, Advocate General BS Prasad underlined that the order given by the High Court Bench to supervise the investigation by the SIT was set aside by the Supreme Court and that the investigation needs to be completed as soon as possible. A copy of the order has not yet been received, he further informed.
Krishna further said that people from the BJP are not cooperating with the investigation. There is no response even when notices are issued, he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Delhi Police, Deputy Solicitor General G. Praveen Kumar said that the Delhi Police had served notices to Santosh. As per the information with the court, the notices were received by a person named Hemender in the party office.
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The BJP lawyer said that Santosh could not attend the hearing as he was in Gujarat. The judge said that the petitions will be investigated after examining the orders of the Supreme Court. The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday.
Petition of the accused to stop the SIT investigation
Accused Ramachandra Bharti, Nandakumar, and Simhayaji have filed a supplementary petition seeking to stop the SIT investigation in this case. On the other hand, advocate V. Krishna filed a supplementary petition on behalf of the accused, supporting the petition filed to transfer the investigation of the case to the CBI. He also accused the government of influencing the investigation.
SIT chief CV Anand, who is next in line for the post of DGP, was accused of not acting independently. Krishna said that there are all kinds of pressure on the SIT, which is operating under the Chief Minister. He said that they have approached the Supreme Court against the order issued by the Division Bench, and that it was being falsely advertised that lookout notices had been issued to non-accused persons contrary to the orders of this High Court. This matter has also come up in the media, he added.
