Relief for AP Chief Minister, SC Declines to Consider Plea For FIR Against Him In Cash-for-Vote Scam

New Delhi: In a relief for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the 2015 cash-for-vote scam, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea challenging the December 2016 decision by the High Court for quashing a complaint and direction to investigate and register FIR against him.

A bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar also declined to entertain another writ petition by YSR Congress Party's former MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy urging the court to issue a direction for transfer of the probe to the CBI. The apex court told Reddy that the judiciary should not be used as a platform for political gains. Both petitions were filed by Reddy.

The top court heard submissions from senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocates Guntur Prabhakar and Prerna Singh, who represented Naidu before the court. After hearing arguments in the matter, the apex court refused to entertain the pleas.

Reddy had filed the complaint before a special judge and sought a direction to include TDP chief Naidu as an accused in the case. It was claimed that MLC Elvis Stephenson nominated MLA was offered Rs 50 lakh cash for casting his vote in favour of the Telugu Desam Party in the MLC elections. The sensational case was known as the ‘cash-for-vote’ scam case in 2015.

Reddy had moved the court claiming that though the first report in the scam had referred to Naidu's name nearly two dozen times, he was not named as an accused by the investigation agency. In August 2016, the principal special judge of the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) court at Hyderabad, directed the ACB, Telangana, to investigate the case and file its report. The High Court quashed the complaint and ACB court orders saying that Reddy had no locus standi to seek a probe against Naidu.

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