HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday refused to grant a stay on all proceedings in the case registered against IT Grids India Pvt Ltd director Ashok Dakavaram by State police. Ashok is alleged to have stolen data pertaining to voters and beneficiaries of various government schemes in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. A Special Investigation Team was constituted by the State government to probe his role in the case and it launched a manhunt to trace him.
Ashok had sought the case registered against him to be quashed and the ongoing investigation to be transferred to AP. He asked for all proceedings, including his arrest, to be stayed in relation to the FIR registered at Madhapur police station on March 2.
State Public Prosecutor C Pratap Reddy told the court: “The petitioner is an accused in the case, has been evading arrest and has not responded to the notice issued by police.” However, he assured the court that Ashok would not be arrested if he responded to notice.
Disputing the submissions made by the Public Prosecutor, Ashok’s counsel told the court that Telangana police could not register cases against IT Grids solely on the basis of territorial jurisdiction. “Even complainant T Lokeswara Reddy, a data analyst, has admitted that the data that was allegedly stolen belonged to AP and not Telangana. Hence, the case should be transferred to AP. In fact, the petitioner is being falsely implicated in the case,” he said. However, refusing to consider Ashok ’s plea, the court directed him to respond to the notice issued by police and adjourned the matter to March 20 for further hearing.