Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday passed an interim order restraining the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from arresting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s national general secretary BL Santhosh and Advocate Srinivas in connection with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA’s poaching case, until further orders.
The duo has however been directed to cooperate with the investigation. The HC also directs the Delhi Police to cooperate with the SIT in ensuring that the notice to BL Santhosh is served upon him.
The bench of Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy while hearing the petition filed by BJP challenging the section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) notices issued by the SIT to BL Santhosh and lawyer Srinivas in relation to the #TRS MLAs poaching case passed the interim order.
The Telangana Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs has summoned BJP national general secretary B L Santhosh to appear before it for questioning on November 21.
In his notice to Santhosh, served at the BJP’s Karnataka headquarters at Malleswaram in Bengaluru, the investigating officer B Gangadhar cautioned the BJP leader that failure to appear before the SIT for interrogation could lead to his arrest as well.
“During the investigation, it is revealed that there are reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain facts and circumstances from you, in relation to the present investigation,” the police officer said in his notice issued on November 16.
The BJP national general secretary (organisation) has been directed not to commit any offence in future and, no tampering with the evidences, threatening, inducing or promising anyone acquainted with the fact of the case.
He has also been asked to appear before the court and join the investigation as an when required and cooperate with the investigation.
Santhosh has also been restricted from travelling abroad without prior permission of the SIT.
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.
SIT probe into TRS MLAs poaching case:
The SIT constituted by the state government for the probe has been questioning the three accused persons in the alleged conspiracy — Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy.
The team has already subjected the digital evidence such as audio and video to forensic examination, travel tickets, and is now working on eliciting information from the accused in question.
Santosh’s name figured in the conversation between three alleged BJP agents arrested by the police last month while trying to lure four MLAs of the TRS to the BJP’s fold with an offer of huge money.
The SIT has already served notices to Kerala doctor Jaggu Swami, BDJS President Tushar Vellapally and a lawyer and relative of Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar for questioning.
All four were summoned on the same day and were asked to appear before SIT for questioning for their alleged links with the three accused arrested in the case last month, sources said.
Jaggu Kottilil alias Jaggu Swami is working in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi while Tushar Vellapally is President of Kerala’s Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).
A team, led by Nalgonda Superintendent of Police Rema Rajeshwari, a member of SIT, served the notices after its investigation in Kerala over the last five days.
The team served notice at Vellapally’s house in Alappuzha. Vellapally, whose BDJS is an ally of the BJP in Kerala, was not home.
The name of Vellapally, who had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Wayanad against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, figured in the conversation the three accused had with the TRS MLAs.
The notice was pasted at the office and house of Jaggu Swami, who is reported to be absconding. The police team was in Kerala to question him as Ramachandra Bharati, the main accused reportedly confessed that Jaggu Swami was linked to the cash that was promised to the TRS MLAs as inducement.
SIT has also served a notice to Bhusarapu Srinivas, a lawyer from Karimnagar, who is said to be a distant relative of the Telangana BJP chief.
Srinivas had allegedly funded the flight expenses for Simhayaji, one of the three accused.
Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Simhayaji and Nandakumar were arrested by the Cyberabad police from a farmhouse at Moinabad near Hyderabad on the night of October 26 when they were allegedly trying to lure four MLAs of the TRS with offers of huge money.
Cyberabad police conducted the raid on a tip-off by Pilot Rohit Reddy, one of the MLAs. He alleged that the accused offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three others.
The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday rejected the BJP plea to hand over MLAs’ poaching case to the CBI but made the SIT probing the case-independent.
The court also ruled that a single judge will monitor the investigation into the case.
It asked the SIT to submit a report to the court on November 29 on the progress of the investigation following which Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was appointed to the case.
With inputs from PTI.
