A Hyderabad court has rejected a plea by the Special Investigation Team, probing the case of alleged conspiracy to poach four TRS MLAs, to rope in senior BJP leader B L Santhosh and three others as accused in the case, saying no prima facie materials has been placed for the purpose.
Special Judge G Raja Gopal pointed out, "Entire material, i e, FIR, remand report, confessional statements did not reveal any prima facie case against the proposed accused."
The SIT, upon its investigations so far, filed a memo in the court with a request to array BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) Santhosh and two persons from Kerala--Tushar Vellappally and Jaggu Swamy, besides an advocate B Srinivas, as accused (A4 to A7) in the case.
The SIT, comprising state police officers, was formed on November 9, 2022 by the Telangana government.
However, after hearing the arguments, the special court of Anti-Corruption Bureau here rejected the memo.
"It is the duty of the Investigating Officer to place convincing and prima facie evidence against the proposed accused so as to array them as accused in the crime," the court said.
Three persons -- Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nandu Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy, were already named as accused (A1 to A3) in the case after a complaint was lodged by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, among four legislators, against them on October 26.
On the basis of the complaint, the FIR under various sections-criminal conspiracy, offering bribe and Prevention of Corruption Act-1988- were filed against them. The trio was recently granted bail by the High Court.
In its order, the court also said that neither Law and Order police nor Special Investigation Team is competent to investigate into the offences relating to the PC Act and only the Special Police Establishment--Anti-Corruption Bureau is competent authority to investigate. Therefore, on this ground also, the request of the Investigating Officer to array the proposed accused as A4 to A7 cannot be considered.
"This court is of the considered opinion that neither Law and Order police nor Special Investigation Team is competent to investigate into the offences relating to the PC Act and only the Special Police Establishment i.e., Anti-Corruption Bureau is competent authority to investigate. Therefore, the Law & Order Police and Special Investigating Team, which is not a Special Police Establishment, is not competent authority to investigate the crime. Therefore, on this ground also the request of the Investigating Officer to array the proposed accused as A4 to A7 can not be considered," the order said.
As such, the memo filed by the Investigating Officer is liable to be rejected, it said.
According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return the legislator had to leave the TRS.
They also allegedly asked Reddy to bring some more TRS MLAs by offering Rs 50 crore each to join the BJP.
