TRS MLAs bribing case: Telangana High Court allows remand of mediators

The Telangana High Court has on Saturday allowed the remand of three alleged mediators in the TRS MLAs bribing case, following which they were taken into custody by the police.

Meanwhile, another single-judge bench of the court, hearing a BJP petition seeking an CBI or sitting judge probe in the case, has passed interim orders temporarily suspending the state police investigation. The court reportedly asked the respondents - Telangana government, state police, CBI etc to file counters by November 4.

The Cyberabad police on Wednesday evening detained one Ramachandra Bharati (a native of Delhi), DPSKVN Simhayaji (from Tirupati) and Nandu Kumar (from Hyderabad) at a farmhouse near the city after TRS MLA Rohith Reddy complained that the three men had offered him a Rs 100 crore bribe and other benefits if he resigns from TRS and joins the BJP.

However, a special ACB court in Hyderabad rejected the police remand request citing lack of evidence and procedures not followed under Section 41A of the CrPC, and freed the three men. The police then approached the high court.

The Cyberabad police said they have recorded the conversations between the mediators and the TRS MLAs at a farmhouse using tech devices, and secret voice recorders on MLA Rohith Reddy.

In their remand report before the court, the Cyberabad police have stated the case as “inducement of bribe to MLAs of TRS to defect and to discharge duties improperly, dishonestly and criminal intimidation to topple and destabilise a democratically elected state government."

Also Read | TRS 'bribing' case: Telangana BJP complains to ECI, ED

The police have submitted that following MLA Rohith's complaint, a team of cops reached his farm house at Moinabad near Hyderabad where the meeting of the three mediators with four TRS MLAs - Guvvala Balaraju, Rega Kantha Rao, Harshvardhan Reddy and Rohith - was to take place, on October 26.

Electronic spy gadgets were arranged by cops inside the meeting hall. Besides, two voice recorders were handed to Rohith, which he placed in his kurta pockets. As per the police instructions, after a three and half hour talk, Rohith gave a signal by asking his servant to bring "nariyal pani".

The cops said they entered the hall at that moment. While the three accused remained silent to their questioning, the cops claimed that the voice recordings “disclosed the conversations of offering bribes of Rs 50 crore to each MLA of TRS besides offer of other monetary benefits, if the MLAs shifted to BJP”.

The cops said they have the voice recording of Ramachandra Bharathi alias Satish Sharma stating that they had executed defections in similar manner in Karnataka, Delhi and other states. The voice recorder further discloses the phone call made to a person wherein the name of a key BJP functionary and his prominence in the national party was conversed clearly.

Police said that the three accused remained silent even after being questioned about the recorded conversations. The cops confiscated their mobile phones and collected more evidence about their plot.

Rohith told cops that he had sought the assistance of the three other TRS MLAs to help him in the matter.