MLAs poaching row: Police knocks HC's door challenging lower court's order

Hyderabad: In another twist to the case relating to the alleged attempt to buy four MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Cyberabad police on Friday approached the Telangana High Court challenging the order of a lower court refusing remand of three accused arrested in the case.

The police sought early hearing by moving lunch motion but the Court asked for a regular petition.

The police challenged the judgment of the ACB Court judge, who ordered the release of all three accused - Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy.

The three men said to be close to some top BJP leaders were arrested from a farmhouse at Moinabad on Wednesday night while they were trying to lure four MLAs of the TRS by offering huge sums of money, important positions and contracts.

The police produced the accused before the judge at his residence in Saroornagar on Thursday night.

The judge rejected the police petition for sending the accused to judicial custody, citing lack of evidence. He observed that the Prevention of Corruption Act does not apply to the case as there is no evidence of bribe money.

The judge told police to issue notices to the accused under Section 41 of Criminal Procedure Code for questioning.

On the judge's orders, police released all the three accused. They were subsequently issued notices directing them to appear before police within 24 hours.

They are likely to be questioned at Moinabad police station, where a case was registered against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act.

On a complaint by one of the MLAs Pilot Rohit Reddy, police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Ramachandra Bharati of Delhi, Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swamy of Tirupati.

According to the complainant, the accused offered him an amount of Rs 100 crore. They also offered to give central government civil contract works and other high central government positions for monetary benefits and lured him to join BJP.

The MLA told police that they warned that if he does not join the BJP, there will be criminal cases and raids by ED/CBI and the Telangana government led by TRS will be toppled by them.

The accused offered bribes of Rs 50 crore each to three other MLAs to join BJP.

On a tip-off by Rohit Reddy, Cyberabad police reached the farmhouse and arrested the three accused.