In yet another shock to the three accused in the alleged attempt to poach four Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLAs, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected their appeal for a bail and ordered that they should go by the high court directions.
Dismissing the bail petition of the three accused – Ramachandra Bharati, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy challenging the Telangana high court order, a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising justices B R Gawai and Vikramnath refused to interfere in the high court directions.
The bench said the accused could file a review petition in the high court itself and there was no need for the Supreme Court to interfere in the case at this stage. The bench dismissed the plea of the accused to quash the case against them.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Hyderabad police, which is probing the case under the auspices of the high court judge, began questioning of Srinivas, a relative of BJP state president Bandi Sanjay, who allegedly booked the flight ticket for Simhayaji, one of the accused.
The other three suspects – B L Santosh, BJP general secretary (organisation), Tushar Vellapally, founder-president of Bharat Dharmik Jana Sena (BDJS) and Dr Jaggu Swamy from Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram – did not turn up for questioning before the SIT on Monday.
The SIT had issued a notice on November 16 to Santosh, asking him to appear at 10:30 am on November 21 before the SIT at the Integrated Command and Control Centre, the police headquarters in Hyderabad. However, BL Santosh will not appear before the SIT.
Sources said Santosh had not received the notice that was to be served through the Delhi police, as he is not in Delhi. The court has directed the Delhi police to co-operate in the matter.
The BJP had gone to court earlier, on November 18, alleging that arbitrary and illegal notices were being issued by the SIT. The court did not accept that, but instructed that BL Santosh would not be arrested by the police here.
The BJP, which called it "a drama scripted and directed by Chief Minister KCR, has sought a 'neutral agency like the CBI' to probe the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs.
The court, however, said the SIT headed by CV Anand would be monitored by the High Court. The SIT has been asked to share probe findings only with the court and not with the political executive or the media.
A court has said the SIT may serve notice under section 41, so Santosh must appear before the SIT, but there is restriction on his arrest.
