The Telangana government on Wednesday, January 4, filed writ appeals in the High Court challenging the decision of a single judge to transfer to CBI, the investigation into the case of the alleged attempt to poach BRS MLAs, from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by it. The matter will come up before the division bench of the High Court headed by the Chief Justice on Thursday. A single judge of the High Court on December 26, 2022, ordered the transfer of the investigation into the case of the alleged conspiracy to poach four BRS MLAs to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), from the SIT of the Telangana police.
The High Court also quashed the government order to constitute SIT and the investigation carried out by it and also the probe done by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the initial stage. Three people -- Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nandu Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy -- were already named as accused (A1 to A3) in the case after a complaint was lodged by BRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy against them on October 26, 2022. The trio was arrested while they were allegedly trying to lure four MLAs of the ruling BRS to join the BJP. Subsequently, they were granted bail by the High Court.
As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return, the legislator had to leave the TRS, now BRS, and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly election. They had allegedly asked Rohith to bring more BRS MLAs by offering Rs 50 crore each to join the BJP. The Telangana government on November 9 ordered the setting up of a seven-member SIT to probe into the alleged attempt to poach the MLAs.