Hyderabad (The Hawk): On Tuesday, the Telangana High Court denied the BJP's request to transfer the TRS MLA poaching matter to the CBI, but it did create an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into it.
The court also decided that a single judge would oversee the probe into the arrest of three alleged BJP agents for allegedly "luring" four MLAs from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) into the BJP.
The SIT, led by Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand, was ordered by a division bench under the leadership of Chief Justice Ujwal Bhuyan not to update the state and its leaders on its progress. Only the SIT has been called to appear in court. Additionally, the crew has been told not to release any information to the media.
The court issued the directives in response to the BJP's appeal asking for a CBI investigation.
It requested that the SIT provide a report on the status of the inquiry to the court on November 29.
On the evening of October 26, the Cyberabad police detained Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Simhayaji, and Nandakumar from a farmhouse in Moinabad, close to Hyderabad, where they were allegedly luring four TRS MLAs with promises of significant sums of money.
On the basis of a tip from one of the MLAs, Pilot Rohit Reddy, Cyberabad police carried out the operation. He claimed the defendant made offers of Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore to the other three.
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act both contain several sections under which the accused were charged.
The high court ordered the state government and other respondents to file a response to the BJP appeal after staying the ongoing probe into the case on October 29. On November 8, the court lifted the suspension.
On November 9, the state administration established a SIT to look into the situation. It consists of six other police officers and is led by the police commissioner of Hyderabad.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao disclosed evidence in the case, including video recordings of the conversation between the accused and the MLAs, during a news conference on November 3.
Amit Shah, the union home minister, was among the prominent BJP leaders mentioned by the accused.
Parmender Reddy, a senior in the BJP, had petitioned the high court for a CBI investigation because he believed the state government's investigation would not be fair.
(Inputs from Agencies)
