Telugu Desam MlA A Revanth Reddy, an accused in the cash-for-vote scam, was on Friday remanded to four-day custody of Anti Corruption Bureau by a special ACB court in Hyderabad.
The court passed the orders on a petition filed by the ACB seeking the custody of MlA for questioning.
Magistrate said that the MlA as well as his two aides Sebastian and Uday Sinha will be in ACB custody for four days from Friday. Court said that the ACB can question him from 9 am to 5 pm in the presence of his lawyer and cannot subject him to third degree torture. The magistrate passed the orders after long arguments between his lawyer Nageswhara Reddy and Public Prosecutor Surinder Rao.
Nageshwara Reddy strongly opposed the ACB custody of Revanth Reddy on the ground that this was a politically motivated case and the MlA was being framed at the behest of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. “When the ACB had the information on May 28 that Revanth Reddy was going to meet the nominated MlA Elvis Stephenson why it did not stop him”, he asked. Pointing out that the ACB used hidden cameras for the sting operation the lawyer wanted to know whether such sting operation was allowed under the Telegraph Act and whether necessary permissions were secured by the agency.
He alleged that the Telangana Chief Minister was trying to target Revanth Reddy from the beginning. “If he is given to the custody of ACB, his life will be danger” the lawyer pleaded.
Seeking the custody PP Surinder Rao said that the ACB has to question Revanth Reddy about the source of Rs50 lakh paid to the nominated MlA as bribe as well as th remaining Rs 4.5 crore which was promised to him. “We have to find out who is behind this entire affair”, he said.
Revanth Reddy and his two aides nabbed on Sunday were in Charalapallay jai in 14 days judicial custody.