Hyderabad: Telangana Finance minister and TRS senior leader T Harish Rao questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the reason behind its leaders knocking on the courts’ doors if the party has nothing to do with trying to poach TRS MLAs.
The minister said that the BJP is trying to halt the investigation being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the state government and is finding ways to subvert the process. “The BJP general secretary filed a petition in the court asking for a halt in the investigation. It shows that big people in the saffron party are involved,” he alleged.
“One can demand that the process of investigation goes through impartially. But the BJP is asking for a halt in the probe. It shows that the BJP is scared of the truth coming out,” he remarked.
Harish said that the BJP is demanding a CBI investigation into the case because they don’t trust the state police. “Is BJP demanding the same where it is in power? This shows that the BJP is vengeful against the police and the people of the state,” he stated.
Adding to Rao’s comments, Telangana cabinet minister Niranjan Reddy said that the Telangana government believes in democratic governance.
“The BJP is ruling in many states without a majority and is currently undermining Indian democracy. Their attempts to topple the government with hundreds of crores has already been exposed. Telangana state government has taken serious note of the attempts made to destabilizing governments. BJP leaders are trying to block the inquiry in a most unnatural way,” said Niranjan Reddy.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana police were questioning three accused in MLAs’ poaching case here on Thursday.
The police took the custody of the accused from Chanchalguda Jail and brought them to Rajendranagar police station on the outskirts amid tight security.
Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, a priest from Faridabad in Haryana, Simhayaji, pontiff from Tirupati and Nandakumar, owner of a restaurant in Hyderabad, were being questioned in connection with the sensational case in which they allegedly tried to lure four MLAs of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The investigating officers are reported to be questioning the accused separately in the presence of their lawyers and recording their statements.
The SIT is focusing on retrieving more information from the accused based on the conversation they had with the TRS MLAs.
The accused were being questioned a day after the state government constituted SIT to probe the case following Telangana High Court lifting the stay on the investigation.
The SIT is headed by Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand. Six other police officers are the members of the team.
The three accused said to be BJP agents were arrested from a farmhouse at Moinabad near Hyderabad on the night of October 26 when they were allegedly trying to lure four MLAs of 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 Prevention of Corruption Act.
(With inputs from IANS.)
