HYDERABAD: Informed by Deputy Solicitor General Gadi Praveen Kumar that the notice issued by the SIT, Hyderabad to BJP national general secretary BL Santosh was served in the party office in New Delhi on November 20, as the latter was not available, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday sought to know why the veteran politician failed to respond to the summons when he was granted protection from arrest.
Justice Reddy was hearing an interim writ petition filed by BJP State general secretary G Premender Reddy, seeking a stay on the SIT notice summoning Santhosh for questioning in the alleged attempt to poach four TRS MLAs.Premender Reddy’s interim petition was submitted with the main writ petition calling for a CBI investigation into the case.
After hearing the Deputy Solicitor General, Justice Reddy questioned the lawyer for Premendar Reddy as to why Santhosh did not appear before the SIT despite having the court’s protection. It may be mentioned here that the court had instructed the SIT not to arrest Santhosh when he appeared before it for questioning.
The judge also asked why the noticee (BL Santhosh) did comply with the conditions of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.Responding to the judge’s query, a junior attorney representing Premendar Reddy informed the court that he needed to seek directions from his senior counsel as to when Santhosh would appear before the SIT, as the notice was given on November 20.
However, Advocate-General BS Prasad told the court that the noticee purposely failed to appear before the SIT for interrogation, thereby flouting the court’s directions.The A-G stated that anyone who does not cooperate or abide to the notice issued under Section 41A of the Cr.PC might be arrested after getting proper orders from the lower court. “The noticee is just fiddling with the court orders in order to avoid appearing before SIT... this will result in criminal prejudice,” the A-G said.
Hearing this, the judge made it clear that the writ petitions would be the first matter scheduled for hearing on Wednesday. The judge also made it clear that the Supreme Court orders needed to be presented to him and that the cases would only be heard when the necessary procedures are completed.