HYDERABAD: Refusing to halt the probe into the TRS MLAs poaching case, the Telangana High Court on Saturday issued directions to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) not to arrest BL Santhosh, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or Karimnagar-based attorney B Srinivas till orders to the contrary are issued.
However, both of them were instructed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Gujjula Premendar Reddy, BJP State general secretary, had submitted an Interlocutory Application (IA) seeking directions to stay the notices issued by the SIT. While rejecting the plea, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said that BL Santhosh should not be detained.
He also heard a second individual writ petition filed by Srinivas, who is reportedly a close aide of BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
SIT has vital info on Santhosh in Poachgate: AAG
He sought a stay of proceedings under Section 41 A of the Civil Procedure Code. Justice Vijaysen ordered that Srinivas not be arrested as well. Both BL Santhosh and Srinivas, however, will appear before the SIT. After hearing the arguments of both sides, the case was adjourned to November 22. Justice Vijaysen also asked for another IA to be filed by the Principal Secretary Home Department, Telangana State, seeking a direction to the Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi, not to create obstacles in the probe into the case.
The court ordered the SIT to send the notice intended for BL Santhosh to CP Delhi, his WhatsApp contact number and e-mail address to him. BL Santosh will be served with the notice under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, by CP Delhi, the judge added.
While giving reasons to support his arrest, J Ramchander Rao, Telangana Additional Advocate General (AAG), representing the State, and BS Prasad, Advocate General (AG), said the SIT has crucial evidence against Santosh, who while sitting at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, gave orders to one Hariram Swamy orders from Haridwar to poach TRS MLAs into the saffron party, in a bid to overthrow the State government.
However, the judge noted that the notice is issued when an arrest is not necessary.
Following his observations, Prasad said that despite Santhosh being asked to appear before the SIT, the BJP functionary wasn’t cooperating with the sleuths and not appearing for questioning even though he hasn’t been booked under any sections.
Referring to the WhatsApp chats revealed during the probe, Ramchander Rao said that Santhosh had the approval of 25 TRS MLAs who were prepared to join the BJP. His other messages showed that he was trying to lure TRS MLAs and undermine the pink party in the State, the AAG said, adding that the seized items are ‘damning evidence’ towards the involvement of Santhosh in the attempt. Santhosh, who has been camping in New Delhi, should question the Telangana unit of BJP if he feels that the notice was issued erroneously.
“If he felt wronged by the notice, he could have asked the Telangana BJP general secretary why the high court was involved in this matter. The BJP is pursuing a dual stance in the case. On one hand, it claims to have no affiliation with the three defendants, who attempted to devise a scheme to poach TRS MLAs, but on the other hand, it approaches the high court while defending the defendants such as BL Santhosh,” he said.
Appearing on behalf of Premendar Reddy, attorney Vaidyanathan Chitambaresh, informed the court that the SIT had blatantly disregarded the Chief Justice’s orders in the writ appeal which stipulated that no information regarding the investigation be made public. Instead of reporting the progress of the investigation to the single judge, the SIT had instead made the information public, he added.
Santhosh’s capture and detention by the SIT would have political repercussions across the country and would spark unrest in State’s politics, Chitambaresh mentioned.After hearing their arguments, Justice Vijaysen Reddy adjourned the case till November 22.
DELHI CP ASKED TO HELP SIT
The court ordered the SIT to send the notice intended for BL Santhosh to CP Delhi, his WhatsApp contact number and e-mail address to him. Santhosh will be served with a notice under Section 41 A of CrPC by CP Delhi, the judge added.