Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday allowed a CBI probe into the alleged poaching case of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The order comes following a plea by the BJP Telangana state unit.
Justice Vijaysen Reddy allowed a CBI probe into the case however, the writ petition seeking a CBI probe into the case was dismissed on the ground that it lacked locus and was not a qualified party to seek a probe. The Court entrusted its investigation to CBI.
Investigation so far was conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state led by Hyderabad Commissioner CV Anand, which stated that the coaching was an attempt to destabilise the government.
The state had earlier withdrawn general consent to the CBI stating that the SIT would be able to conduct an unbiased trial.
The High Court in its order also quashed the probe by the SIT.
A single-judge bench of the court had earlier passed an interim order putting a stay on the investigation by the SIT based on a petition by the BJP seeking a CBI probe into the alleged attempt to buy four MLAs of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS, then TRS).
The court while dealing with the writ petition had found discrepancies in the panchanama report in which the officer who conducted the panchanama, had signed it and mentioned the date as October 27, whereas it was recorded on October 26.
The three accused, allegedly to be BJP agents, were arrested by the police 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 the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(This is a developing story. More details will be added.)
