Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday allowed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to continue its investigation into the TRS MLAs poaching case under the supervision of a judge. It directed that the details of the progress of this investigation be submitted to the single judge court 'only'.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy on Tuesday said the findings of the SIT should not be disclosed to anyone else including political leaders and executive officers. The court also said that the details should not be leaked to the media. The HC was hearing the appeal filed by BJP State Secretary Premender Reddy challenging the order issued by a single judge bench allowing the SIT to continue the investigation in the MLAs poaching case.
Senior advocate CH Vaidyanathan presented arguments on behalf of the BJP leader. Speaking on behalf of the state government, senior advocate Dushyant Dave said that the Supreme Court has said on several occasions that the investigation of criminal cases should not be obstructed. He said that the “BJP has arrested ministers in other states and sent them to jails, but the investigation is being obstructed here”.
Also read: TRS MLAs poaching case: Legislators complain of receiving threat calls
“Even with all this evidence, it is surprising that the responsible party stands by the accused,” Dave said. Dave alleged that the “MLAs are being hijacked and their minds are being changed and governments are being overthrown” referring to the alleged poaching in Telangana. Meanwhile, BJP State President Bandi Sanjay said that he welcomes the High Court verdict directing for continuation of the ongoing probe.
He alleged that TRS is “conspiring to damage the reputation” of their party and CM KCR's press meet was “proof” of this. The Telangana government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged poaching of TRS MLAs. 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 luring 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. On Thursday November 10, the State government formed a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. 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.
