HYDERABAD: Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court has recused himself from hearing a criminal petition filed by the then Malkajgiri MP and present Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy seeking quashing of a criminal case registered against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and related sections of the IPC.
The case stems from Crime No. 15/2015 registered at the Chandanagar police station, following a complaint lodged by N Peddi Raju, a SC (Mala) individual and director of the Razole Constituency SC Mutually Aided Cooperative Housing Society Ltd, alleging that Accused No 1 A Kondal Reddy (brother of Revanth), A2 E Laxmiah and A3 Revanth Reddy, illegally trespassed onto society land in Gopanpally, and demolished a room using a JCB. The complainant further stated that caste-based abuse was hurled at him during the incident.
During the course of hearing Revanth’s quash petition, Justice Lakshman disclosed that he had previously appeared as counsel for the de-facto complainant, N Peddi Raju, in an unrelated cooperative society matter. In view of this prior association, the judge expressed his decision to recuse himself from the case.