Poachgate: Clear bid to topple government, Telangana HC told

HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji on Tuesday said that it to continue hearing on Wednesday the arguments by Dushyant Dave, senior counsel from the Supreme Court, on the writ appeals by the State government, MLA P Rohith Reddy and others seeking overturning of the orders of a single judge handing over the investigation of the BRS MLAs poaching case to the CBI.

During his arguments on Tuesday, Dave told the bench that the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation showed that three accused -- Ramchandra Bharati, Nandu Kumar and Simhayaji -- were found to be attempting to overthrow democratically elected governments belonging to the Opposition by using unconstitutional and undemocratic mechanisms and means. In order to entice the MLAs of the BRS, the three accused created a bigger criminal conspiracy with the help of additional conspirators who have not yet been identified, Dave told the court.

He said that the three accused initiated discussions with the de-facto complainant, in this instance BRS MLA P Rohith Reddy, as part of their criminal plot, offering to pay him `100 crore and `50 crore to each MLA who desired to defect from the BRS to the BJP. Dave said that the accused threatened to overthrow the State government if Rohith Reddy rejected the offer and unlawfully intimidated him with ED and CBI raids.

Rohith Reddy gave his fellow MLAs Guvvala Balaraj, B Harshavardhan Reddy and Rega Kantha Rao the information after they volunteered to help him, the court was told.

Dave said that the accused contacted Rohith Reddy and told him that they would be visiting his farmhouse on October 26, 2022 at 3 pm.

They then began talks with Rohith Reddy in the presence of the other three MLAs. Dave said that the accused and the MLAs spoke about attracting BRS legislators to the BJP. After the meeting ended at around 6.30 pm, the accused were apprehended, evidence related to the crime was confiscated, and a seizure panchnama was created.

“Clearly this has not been a case where the single judge exercised power under criminal jurisdiction side, because the three accused and others had not filed a plea to quash the FIR filed at Moinabad police station, having received a beneficial order in the form of Mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” said Dave.