Hyderabad (The Hawk): On Thursday, the two accused in the poaching case involving TRS MLAs were re-arrested in connection with other charges lodged against them.
The Banjara Hills police apprehended Ramachandra Bharathi and K. Nanda Kumar shortly after their release on bail from Chanchalguda Central Prison.
They will presumably appear before a judge later in the day.
While Ramachandra Bharati was charged with possessing numerous passports, Aadhaar cards, and other documents, Nanda Kumar was charged with five counts of fraud and other offences.
On December 1, the Telangana High Court granted bail to all three accused in the MLA poaching case. As the court had ordered, they remained in jail for a week because they were unable to provide two sureties and a personal bail of Rs 3 lakhs.
The release of Simhayaji occurred on Wednesday.
The Banjara Hills police arrested Ramachandra Bharati after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) discovered that he possessed two passports.
The police charged him under Indian Penal Code sections 467 (forgery of valuable securities, wills, etc.), 468 (forgery with the intent to defraud), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and sections 12 of the Passports Act, 1967.
The accused possesses a passport bearing the identity Shree Ramachandra Swami Ji and another bearing the name Bharat Kumar Sharma.
The police had previously charged him with forgery. On the basis of a complaint by one of the TRS MLAs, Pilot Rohit Reddy, the Banjara Hills police have opened an investigation into the possession of fraudulent Aadhaar, PAN, and driver's licences.
It is rumoured that Ramachandra Bharati, a priest from Faridabad, Haryana, has intimate ties with some BJP leaders.
On October 26, Cyberabad police detained Ramachandra Bharati, Simhayaji, a pontiff from Tirupati, and Nanda Kumar, a businessman from Hyderabad, during a raid on a farm residence in Moinabad, close to Hyderabad.
The police made the arrests after receiving a tip from Pilot Rohit Reddy, who said that the suspects offered him Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore each to three others.
The defendants have been charged under several IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act sections.
Nanda Kumar was also charged with five crimes at various police stations in the city.
A case was also registered against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after a person filed a complaint claiming he had taken a loan of Rs 80 lakhs from him, failed to repay it, and insulted him in the name of his caste.
(Inputs from Agencies)
