Hyderabad: Telangana excise minister and BRS MLA V Srinivas Goud was booked for tampering with his election affidavit by the Mahbubnagar police on Friday, August 11.
The lawsuit has been ordered against him by a special court in Hyderabad for lawmakers for the alleged falsification of his election affidavit from last year.
The police were also criticized by the court for failing to file the case under the appropriate provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) despite prior directives.
Chaluvagali Raghavendra Raju, the petitioner, had earlier filed a private complaint, alleging that Srinivas Goud had submitted three different affidavits: one on November 14, 2018, another on November 19, and a third affidavit whose date was kept secret.
The minister has been booked under sections 120A,120B for criminal conspiracy, 167 (Public Servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 171-B,171-E, 171G (for bribery), 177 (furnishing false information),191, 192, 193, 194, 196 (giving false evidence), 219 (public servant in judicial proceeding corruptly making report, etc., contrary to law), 409 (covers dishonest misappropriation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 500 (punishment for defamation), 503 (criminal intimidation), 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
According to a report by India Today, the minister was accused of illegally replacing the information in the November 14, 2018, affidavit with that of November 19, 2018, in cooperation with the returning officer. According to the allegations, this violated the Representation of Peoples Act.
Raju claimed that the minister had intentionally omitted key details surrounding the minister’s spouse’s purchase of immovable property through a sale transaction and had replaced the allegedly “flawed” statement, presented in Form No 26.
There were also claims that a mortgage loan in the sum of Rs 12 lakh was secured from the Padmavati Colony branch of the Andhra Pradesh Gramina Vikas Bank in Mahbubnagar.
The petitioner should provide documentation to support the assertions stated, the court responded. Raju complied with the court’s order and obtained pertinent papers through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, presenting them as proof.
The Mahabubnagar II Town police were asked by the special court to file a complaint against Srinivas Goud in accordance with section 156(C) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in July.
The former chief election officer Rajeev Kumar, the former Mahabubnagar district collectors Ronald Rose and S Venkata Rao, RDO Srinivas, deputy collector Padmasri, Venkatesh Goud, notary advocate Rajendra Prasad, and Danam Sudhakar were all targets of legal action ordered by the court.
Raju, however, later filed another appeal with the court since the police abandoned the investigation without finishing it.
