The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice in a petition seeking transfer of trail outside Telangana in the 2015 cash-for-votes case against the Chief Minister of Telangana, A Revanth Reddy.
A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notice returnable in four weeks on the transfer plea.
The petition has been moved by four BRS MLAs. Reddy has been accused for paying an independent MLA to get votes for his party's candidate Vem Narendar Reddy in Elections to the Legislative Council of Telangana.
The petitioner submitted in the top court that the transfer petition has been filed to ensure "free and fair trial" and prayed that the case be transferred outside the state. At present, the case against Reddy is pending in a Telangana special trail court.
Reddy is accused of offering a bribe of Rs. 50 Lakhs to Telangana MLA Elvis Stephenson to vote in favour of the Telugu Desam Party during the 2015 elections to the Telangana Legislative Council. The petition has alleged that Reddy did this on instructions from his ex-boss and former Andhra Chief Minister Nara Chandra Babu Naidu.
Reddy was a member of TDP in 2015 when he was apprehended by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for allegedly paying a Rs 50 lakhs bribe to Stephenson to support a TDP MLA. He later joined the Congress and became the Chief Minister of the state.
The petitioners have submitted in court that Reddy being the CM as well as Home Minister of state can adversely impact free and fair trial in the case. And thus the petitioners have sought transfer of the case outside the state.