HYDERABAD: Senior counsel from Supreme Court Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, on Thursday told the Hyderabad High Court that a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be registered based on a complaint lodged by nominated TRS MLA Elvis Stephenson in the cash-for-vote scam. Exercise of right to vote in an election is not part of a public duty, he noted.
The senior counsel was making these submissions before Justice T Sunil Chowdary dealing with the petition by Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash the orders of the ACB court against him based on a private complaint by the MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in the case.
Commencing his arguments in the case, Luthra pointed out that the complaint was lodged by the opposition party MLA out of political rivalry and the MLA had no connection with the crime and he is neither the informant nor a witness to the crime.
In fact, the ACB had already investigated and filed charge sheet in the present case and in this context giving directions by the trial court against his client is not correct. In these circumstances, registering a second FIR in the case was not proper, he added. Arguments will continue on Monday. It may be mentioned here that on Sept 2 this year, the High Court while staying the order passed by the ACB Court directing the probe agency to investigate into the role of Naidu in the scam, directed the respondents to file counter affidavits in the matter.