Telangana MLAs Poaching Case: Supreme Court Asks CBI To Hold Probe

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Telangana Police opposed the transfer of the probe to the CBI.

Supreme Court of India

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The Supreme Court on Monday orally asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to not begin an investigation into an alleged conspiracy by the BJP to poach Telangana's Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislators. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh ordered status quo and agreed to hear the petition challenging an order of the Telangana High Court which transferred the probe from the SIT to the CBI in July, IANS reported.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Telangana Police, opposed the transfer of the probe to the CBI. The Supreme Court was informed that the case materials had not been handed over to the central agency so far. The bench said it is making it very clear that the CBI probe should not be continued while the matter is subjudice.

"We are making it very clear. The investigation is not to be continued while the matter is sub judice or it will become infructuous. That is the thumb rule. Do not continue the investigation. Otherwise, we will have to pass interim orders," the bench orally said, according to a report in Live Law.

Earlier, Dave had argued that the results of transferring the case to CBI, which was allegedly under the Centre's control, would be serious. He had submitted that it would go to the heart of democracy.

On February 6, a division bench of the Telangana High Court upheld the December 26, 2022, order of a single judge sending the matter to the CBI. In an appeal, the Telangana Police challenged this order before the Supreme Court.

The plea claimed that the high court did not appreciate that the CBI directly works under the Centre and is under the control of the Prime Minister's office and the Home Ministry. The Telangana government alleges the involvement of some BJP leaders to poach its four MLAs, was an attempt to topple the government.

 "The Bharatiya Janata Party is in power in the Central Government, and the allegations in the FIR are squarely and directly against the said party adopting illegal and criminal steps and methods to destabilize the government of Telangana. The Hon'ble High Court therefore could not have entrusted the investigation to the CBI in any case." the plea said, as reported by IANS.

The plea further added, "The High Court has unnecessarily drawn the conclusion that release of the CD by the Chief Minister on 03.11.2022 amounted to interference with the investigation and therefore concluded that the investigation was not fair and violated the rights of the accused to a fair investigation." 

Bail has already been granted for three of the suspects, Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nandu Kumar, and Simhayaji Swamy. According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy claimed in October last year that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore in exchange for leaving the BRS.

In November last year, the Telangana government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising state police officers, to investigate the matter.