Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and three others have received relief from the Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA in connection with the 2015 case.
The tribunal has cancelled the order that confirmed the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment of Rs 50 lakh.
The order was passed on September 14 by the New Delhi-based tribunal headed by Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari. Revanth Reddy, Vem Krishna Keerthan, Rudra Sivakumar Uday Simha and Bishop Harry Sebastian had challenged the Adjudicating Authority’s February 8, 2022 order that confirmed the ED’s provisional attachment made on May 25, 2021.
Tribunal explains why attachment was set aside
The dispute before the tribunal concerned the ED’s attachment of an amount equivalent to the alleged Rs 50 lakh bribe. The appellants argued that the original cash was no longer under their control because the Anti-Corruption Bureau had already seized it and deposited it with the trial court.
The tribunal considered the requirement under Section 5(1)(b) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Since the Rs 50 lakh was already secured with the court, the tribunal found that there was no likelihood of the appellants dealing with or transferring the money. It therefore held that the ED could not attach an equivalent amount in these circumstances and set aside the confirmation order.
Revanth Reddy, others in cash-for-vote case
The underlying case began with an FIR registered by the Hyderabad ACB on May 31, 2015, over an alleged Rs 5 crore bribe offer ahead of the June 1 MLC election.
At the time, Revanth Reddy was a TDP MLA, while Vem Narender Reddy was the party’s candidate. The allegation was that Revanth Reddy, along with Bishop Harry Sebastian and Rudra Uday Simha, offered Rs 50 lakh as an advance to MLA Elvis Stephenson at an apartment in South Lalaguda, Secunderabad.
According to the ACB, the alleged offer was intended to persuade Stephenson to vote for the TDP candidate or abstain from voting. The agency said its officials caught the accused during the alleged transaction and seized Rs 50 lakh. Audio and video recordings were also collected.
Following the ACB case, the ED registered an ECIR and provisionally attached an equivalent Rs 50 lakh.
