Telangana: Cyberabad Police Foils Bid To 'Poach' Four TRS Legislators, Three Persons Detained

According to police, the conspiracy was busted after the TRS legislators gave the information to the police. Rs 15 crore cash was also seized from the spot.

The conspiracy was busted after the TRS legislators gave the information to the police. ( Image Source :Twitter )

New Delhi: The Cyberabad police on Wednesday claimed to have foiled a bid to poach four MLAs of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and detained three persons in Aziz Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

According to police, the conspiracy was busted after the TRS legislators gave the information to the police. Rs 15 crore cash was also seized from the spot.

Based on the tip-off, police raided a farm house in Ranga Reddy district and detained three persons, as per the report. The four legislators - Achampet MLA Guvvala Balaraju, Kollapur MLA Harshavardhan Reddy, Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha Rao and Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy were negotiating in a farm house in Aziz Nagar when police entered and found negotiations going on while offering them a huge amount of money, posts and other incentives to switch loyalties, as per reports. 

The three persons detained have been identified as Swamiji Ramachandra Bharati of Fareedabad, Simhayaji of Tirupati, and Nandakumar, the owner of a hotel in Hyderabad.

It is to be noted that the incident has sparked off a war of words between the TRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the former accusing the saffron party of trying to poach its MLAs ahead of the Munugode bypoll. The BJP, however, dismissed the claim and said this was a diversion created by the ruling TRS to win the Munugode seat.

The police have not yet made any statement regarding the parties.

While this is the first instance wherein three persons were detained with cash while allegedly trying to poach legislators from rival parties, the police have so far seized Rs.2.49 crore in various instances from Hyderabad and Munugode, as part of the vigil on cash movements ahead of the Munugode by-elections.

According to reports, at least two of these seizures were from BJP leaders, including Rs.1 crore from the husband of a BJP corporator from Karimnagar.