HC reserves order on Reddy's bail till Tue

The Hyderabad High Court on Friday reserved its judgement till Tuesday on the bail petition of Telugu Desam Party MlA A Revanth Reddy, the main accused in the cash-for-vote scam.Siddharth luthra, counsel for Revanth Reddy, pleaded with the court to grant him bail on the ground that the ACB had already questioned him and gathered all the information from him. “There is no need to keep him in jail any further,” he said. Counsel pointed out that the ACB had recorded the statements of Revanth Reddy and 17 other people, and searched his residence.

Representing ACB the Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy said that the court should not grant the bail to the accused as the ACB was to get a crucial report of Forensic Science laboratory. “The accused has still not revealed the source of money which was to be paid to nominated MlA as bribe. We also have to find out where the remaining `4.5 crore was,” he said.

Pointing out that the thinking of purchasing MlAs was not good for democracy, the AG said that if somebody buys 10 MlAs then the State Government can be brought down.The AG also pointed out that Revanth Reddy was the MlA of a party (TDP) which was in power in a neighboring State. “In such a situation there is a possibility of damaging the evidence,” he said.

Siddharth luthra later talking to media expressed hope that the High Court will grant him the bail. “I have sought bail for him on the ground that he was people’s representatives and there was no possibility of his fleeing from the country,” he said.Revanth Reddy and his two associates were caught by the Telangana ACB on May 31 when they were allegedly handing over an amount of `50 lakh to nominated MlA Elvis Stephenson as a bribe to secure his vote in legislative Council election for the TDP candidate Vem Narendra Reddy.

Revanth and two associates are remanded to judicial custody till June 29.In another development, Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau on Friday filed a memo before the ACB court in Hyderabad to seek the copy of the report of State Forensic Science laboratory pertaining to the cash-for-vote scam.The FSl after analysing the video and audio tapes of the case had submitted its preliminary report on Wednesday and the ACB approached the court for its copy.

However the court told the investigating agency to bring a written consent from the FSl for securing the copy of the report.Earlier the Election Commission of India also filed a memo in the court seeking the information including the copies of audio and video tapes. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar lal told the reporters that once he gets the information he will forward it to the Election Commission of India.

He termed the cash-for-vote scandal as criminal case. “Whatever action EC has to take in the matter will be only after the ACB court’s judgement,” he said when asked what action will be taken against Telugu Desam Party MlA A Reddy, an accused of bribing a nominated MlA in legislative Council elections.

The EC has already written to the ACB asking it to take the investigations to the logical end and bring the facts to the light.

The FSl report has become crucial for the ACB to take further steps in the case. Officials indicated that once they get the report they will chalk out the future strategy and decide when to serve notice on AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.One of the audio tapes analysed and found genuine by the FSl contains the voice of Chandrababu Naidu talking to the nominated MlA Elvis Stephenson.

Meanwhile, the ACB officials were exploring the possibility of using the record of Chandrababu Naidu’s speeches in the library of the State Assembly for comparison with the voice on the tape. This option came to the fore after the legal experts pointed out that there was no provision in the law to direct an accused to give voice sample for comparison.