Multiple cameras and voice recorders in the room and a code word -- “nariyal paani layiye”. These were all part of an elaborate trap laid by the Cyberabad police and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to catch alleged BJP agents in the act of bribing MLAs with crores to switch sides. The remand report submitted by the Cyberabad police in the Telangana High Court includes details of how the police apparently set a trap to collect evidence at the meeting at a farmhouse on Hyderabad outskirts on Wednesday, October 26. Police had raided the farmhouse where they said they found three men allegedly associated with the BJP trying to poach four MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), based on a complaint from TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy.
The three accused – Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma from Delhi, Nanda Kumar from Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swamy from Tirupati – were booked for bribery, criminal conspiracy and other charges, based on a complaint from MLA Rohith Reddy. The Cyberabad police have called it a case of “inducement of bribe to MLAs of TRS party to defect and also to discharge duties improperly and dishonestly and criminal Intimidation to topple & destabilise democratically elected state government.”
The four legislators present at the farmhouse were Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, Kollapur MLA Harshvardhan Reddy, Achampet MLA Guvvala Balaraju, and Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha Rao. According to the police, the four MLAs were allegedly offered Rs 50 to 100 crore each, apart from contracts and important positions in the union government, in exchange for switching parties.
The remand report says that after recording MLA Rohith Reddy’s complaint, Rajendranagar Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) B Gangadhar brought in two mediators for observation of the crime scene. “Electronic spy gadgets were secured and arranged inside the hall at the farmhouse of the complainant” where the meeting was proposed, the report said.
After Rohith Reddy informed the police about the seating arrangements, four gadgets were placed at various locations in the room, the report said. Two voice recorders were also placed on Rohith Reddy, on either side of his kurta, it said.
To signal to the police that the meeting with the accused had concluded, Rohith Reddy was told to say “nariyal panni layiye” (bring coconut water) to his employee, the report said. After making these arrangements, Rohith Reddy left the farmhouse to receive the accused, it said, while the ACP and the mediators took vantage positions to watch the meeting.
According to further details shared in the remand report, around 3.05 pm, the spy gadgets were switched on, according to the report. Rohith Reddy returned to the farmhouse around 3.10 pm, followed by the three accused. After they began the meeting in the hall, the other three MLAs arrived together around 4.10 pm and joined the meeting, which lasted for about three-and-a-half hours. Around 6.30 pm, Rohith Reddy asked for coconut water, indicating to the police that the meeting was over.
At this point, the ACP, the two mediators and a police inspector entered the room from their vantage positions, the report said. The ACP then made introductions and asked the accused about the purpose of their visit, to which they remained silent, it added. The three MLAs who joined later said they had arrived to help Rohith Reddy as he sought their assistance in getting the accused nabbed, the report said.
The voice recorders when played, “clearly disclosed the conversation of offering of bribe of Rs 50 crore to each MLA of TRS besides offer of other monetary benefits by the [accused], if the MLA shifted to BJP,” the report said. “It also contains voice of Ramachandra Bharathi alias Sateesh Sharma further stating that they have done defection in similar manner in Karnataka, Delhi & other states,” it said. The voice recorder further discloses a phone call made by Ramachandra Bharathi to a man named Tushar, in which the name of ‘Santosh BJP’ and his “importance in the national party etc.” was conversed clearly, the report said. These names, along with those of top BJP leaders, were also mentioned in phone conversations purportedly involving the accused, which were shared by TRS on Friday.
The remand report also includes screenshots of text messages from the phones of the accused, with contacts named ‘Sunil Kumar Bansal BJP’, ‘Tushar Vellappally Kerala SNDP’, and ‘Santhosh BJP’. Apart from the mobile phones of the accused, police said they also seized a laptop and a diary with handwritten entries.