Hyderabad: The withdrawal of consent for the CBI to visit the state during the BRS regime was a stumbling block to initiating a CBI probe into the Kaleshwaram Project. As Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced the handing over of the Kaleshwaram case to the CBI, the government has begun an exercise to revoke the earlier order which prohibited the central probing agency from entering the state.

Under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, a general consent of the State government is a must for the CBI to operate in any particular state. After the arrest of two swamis in 2022 who allegedly tried to bribe four TRS MLAs, the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s government withdrew the consent for the CBI to visit the state without permission.

It was alleged that the accused, on behalf of the BJP, offered a Rs 100 crore bribe to each MLA to join the BJP ahead of the Munugode Assembly by-elections. BJP leaders also filed a petition in the High Court requesting the handing over of the case to the CBI. This led the Telangana CM to decide to withdraw consent to the CBI to prevent any central intervention.

Sources said that the CM has asked the State Home Secretary Ravi Gupta to take necessary measures to revoke the orders and permit the CBI to visit the state to conduct a probe. The Supreme Court has given specific directions for a CBI probe into the alleged murder of an advocate couple, G Vamana Rao and his wife Nagamani, in the old Karimnagar district in 2021. The government will now have to abide by the court orders and permit the CBI to conduct the probe by visiting the incident spots and questioning the alleged accused in the murder case.