HYDERABAD: In a setback for the accused in the TRS MLAs’ poaching case, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain their petitions seeking a probe either by the CBI or an SIT constituted by the Central government. Upholding the arguments of the Telangana government, the apex court made it clear that the SIT constituted by the State (Telangana) should be enough to do the job. A bench of Justice Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath also set aside the Telangana High Court’s order paving way for monitoring of the SIT probe into the case by a single judge. The court made it abundantly clear that any restrictions imposed on the SIT probe consequent upon the HC order for monitoring by a single judge, should be removed.
It ordered the SIT to continue the investigation in a free and fair manner, giving no room for interference from any quarters. It directed the single-judge bench of the high court to dispose of all the petitions pending before it within four weeks. The apex court also set aside the HC’s order that had paved the way for the judicial remand of Ramachandra Bharati, K Nanda Kumar and Simhayajulu, the accused. Noting that their plea challenging their arrest had been dismissed by the Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases Court at Nampally, the SC bench granted the accused liberty to approach the appellate court.
Arguing for Telangana government counsels Dushyanth Dave, Siddharth Luthra and Telangana Additional Advocate General J Ramachander Rao described the petitioners’ plea for a probe either by CBI or SIT set up by the Centre as double standards.
They said the SIT was probing the case in an impartial manner and that the Telangana HC had also given its green signal for the same. They told the apex court that there was clear evidence of a conspiracy to lure TRS MLAs and that any obstacles to the probe into the criminal case would go against the guidelines of the Supreme Court.
The accused approached the SC against the Telangana HC’s October 29 ruling. The Telangana HC’s ruling came on a plea filed by Cyberabad police against the ACB court’s order rejecting their remand request. The ACB court had rejected their remand and set them free pursuant to observing that the police had failed to follow the Supreme Court guidelines in the case.
In their remand report submitted before the High Court, the Cyberabad police detailed how the accused tried to lure the four TRS legislators to the BJP. Apart from directing the accused to surrender, Justice C Sumalatha had also asked the trio to ensure compliance with all the formalities outlined in various sections of the CrPC.