MLA poaching case: Conflicting orders by 2 HC Single Benches

Hyderabad: Two Single Benches of the Telangana High Court have issued conflicting orders in the TRS MLAs poaching case. One Single Bench directed the respondent/accused to surrender before the police within 24 Hours, while the other Single Bench ordered a stay on all proceedings until further orders.

The High Court Single Bench of Justice Chillakur Sumalatha on Saturday set aside the order of 1st Additional SPE and ACB Court, Nampally rejecting the remand of three respondents/accused in a case registered by the Moinabad police station in the TRS MLAs poaching case.

Justice Chillakur Sumalatha heard the criminal revision case filed by the Telangana government, represented by its special public prosecutor for SPE and ACB cases, seeking to reject the order, dated 27 October, of 1st Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases, Nampally, Hyderabad. Further, the state asked the court to direct the three accused to surrender before the Special Public Prosecutor for SPE and ACB cases, Hyderabad to enable the judge to accept the remand and send the accused to judicial custody.

Senior counsel Vedula Srinivas argued the matter on behalf of the three accused—Ramachandra Barathi alias Sathish Sharma of Faridabad, Haryana; Kore Nandu Kumar of Chaitanyapuri, Hyderabad; and Simhayaji of Tirupati. On behalf of the state, advocate general Banda Shivananda Prasad submitted before the court to reject the order of 1st Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases at Nampally, Hyderabad, and to send the accused to judicial custody.

After hearing the contentions of both sides, Justice Sumalatha directed the three accused to surrender before the police within 24 hours. If they don't surrender, the police have the power to arrest them. Moreover, Justice Sumalatha directed the police that after the arrest of the three men, they must be produced before the magistrate as per law, failing which the police have to face contempt of court.

The other order

Meanwhile, another Single Bench headed by Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy heard the writ petition filed by the BJP Telangana unit, represented by its general secretary Gujjula Premender Reddy, seeking to declare the action of the state government in undertaking a biased and unfair investigation into the case with the sole intention to frame the petitioner political party and damage its reputation at the instance of the ruling party as being illegal.

Further, the BJP sought to transfer the investigation to the CBI or to constitute a special investigation team to conduct an inquiry in a free and fair manner. On behalf of the petitioner, senior counsel J. Prabhakar Rao argued the matter. On behalf of the state, additional advocate general Ramchander Rao argued that the petitioner has no locus standi and the case is not maintainable.

After hearing both sides' contentions, Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy directed the state government to stay all proceedings and deferred the petition until further orders.

For further hearing, the matter was adjourned to 4 November. The state police are in utter confusion about which Single Bench order is to be complied with. According to police sources, the state police department will file the House Motion petition on Monday before the chief justice Division Bench regarding the conflicting orders of the two Single Benches.