Hyderabad: The three accused in the TRS MLA poaching case Ramachandra Bharati, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court, challenging their arrest and requesting their release. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court on November 4.
The three accused were arrested by Cyberabad police on charges of attempting to buy four TRS MLAs with large sums of money. The ACB Special Court dismissed their remand and released them, citing the police’s failure to follow Supreme Court guidelines in the case.
The police then filed a criminal revision petition in the High Court, which resulted in Justice C Sumalatha overturning the order of the ACB special court and ordering the three accused to surrender to the Cyberabad Police Commissioner, with the police presenting them before the same Magistrate for remand in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, while hearing a writ petition filed by the BJP seeking a CBI or Special Investigation Team probe into the case, High Court Justice B Vijaysen Reddy issued an interim order instructing the police to suspend the ongoing investigation. He scheduled the next hearing for November 4.
The three persons were arrested few days ago after allegedly trying to poach TRS MLAs, Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy, and Pilot Rohit Reddy. Rohit among them alerted the police alleging that they were contacted by ‘certain people’ claiming they were from the BJP, who asked the legislators to defect and join the BJP.
The TRS MLAs were reportedly offered prominent posts, contracts, and huge cash in return, said Rohit Reddy in his complaint to the police. A trap was laid and all three BJP ‘agents’ were caught at a farmhouse at Aziznagar Moinabad on Wednesday. The next day the police arrested them formally.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by P N Sree Harsha | 
