HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking an investigation into the assets belonging to Alair MLA Gongidi Sunitha. The petitioner, Bodusu Mahesh, a social worker, had claimed that Sunitha has accumulated assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.
According to the petitioner, Sunitha has excessive wealth. He claimed that no action was taken on his complaints to the ECI, the State Chief Electoral Officer, the Legislative Assembly Secretary, and the Income-Tax commissioner.
The petitioner claimed that Sunitha had submitted incorrect information regarding her properties in her election affidavit and urged the court to order a probe into her assets. Wondering if there could be some vested interests driving the petitions over the course of the last session, the bench, comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji asked the petitioner if he was an I-T payer. The court also instructed him to submit an affidavit revealing his I-T details.
When the petitioner failed to submit the affidavit, the bench asked him whether he had made similar accusations against other MLAs and MPs. However, he chose not to respond. Ruling that the High Court cannot mandate a roving and fishing investigation in such fictitious applications, the bench dismissed the writ petition as not maintainable.