Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday dismissed the appeal of the State government challenging the single judge bench judgement to transfer the MLA 'poaching' case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The bench comprising Chief Justice Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Thukaranji in its 111-page verdict refused to interfere with the judgment of the single judge on December 26.
The bench was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the single-judge bench judgment ordering the transfer of the case to the CBI. The pleas were filed by the Telangana government and Tandur MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy. The bench said that only the Supreme Court had appropriate jurisdiction to entertain the pleas in this regard.
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It is learned that the Telangana government is likely to approach the Supreme Court in the case. On December 26, the single judge ordered the transfer of the MLA poaching case from the Telangana SIT to the CBI. The single-judge bench was hearing separate petitions filed by the accused Ramachandra Bharti, Nanda Kumar, Simhayaji, along with advocate Bhusarapu Srinivas and Tushar Vellapally..
The case relates to the FIR registered on October 26 last year on the complaint of MLA Rohit Reddy alleging baiting of then TRS MLAs by the BJP. In the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy named Ramachandra Bharati, Nandakumar, and Simhayaji as the main accused. He said the trio met him and other MLAs at his farmhouse where they made the offer to quit the TRS and join the BJP. Later, the Telangana government approached the High Court in the matter. While this petition was pending, the single judge, who heard the petitions of the accused, handed over the case to the CBI. The CBI has not taken up the investigation as the litigation in the case was going on.
