Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Wednesday instructed the SIT investigating the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs to issue a fresh notice to BJP leader B L Santhosh, who is yet to appear before the SIT for questioning.
The development comes days after the SIT issued notices to Santosh, the BJP National General Secretary (Organisation), and others to appear before it for questioning on November 21. However, they did not turn up. An advocate, also summoned by the SIT had appeared before it.
Telangana Advocate General B S Prasad told the High Court that despite the notice being served, Santhosh did not appear before the SIT and that he had sought time (from the panel) on the ground that he had scheduled tour programs and that he wanted sufficient time without indicating as to the date for appearance.
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Following the hearing, the court Court directed the SIT to again serve fresh notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to Santhosh giving them reasonable time to appear before the investigation team. The case will come up for a hearing again on November 29.
A complaint was lodged by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, among four legislators, against three persons... Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy...on October 26.
As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return the legislator had to leave the TRS and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly election. The Telangana government on November 9 ordered the setting up of a seven-member SIT to probe into the alleged poaching of the MLAs.
