Jerusalem Mathaiah, one of the accused in the controversial Telangana cash for vote scam, demanded the probe should also look into the role of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and son Nara Lokesh. In a letter to the Chief Justice of India on Tuesday, Mathaiah accused that Naidu is the main kingpin and the current probe is limited only to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. He also accused the Supreme Court Judge L Nageshwara Rao of not allowing him to become an approver and his statement made under section 164 was done by force.
‘The arguments held yesterday in the cash-for-vote case were conducted properly, but in this case, not only Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy but also the role of the quashed AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was involved. Telangana lawyer Menaka Guruswamy forgot to mention the fact that the then Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, who rejected all the evidence and cooperated in conducting in-camera proceedings despite all the evidence, was also involved. And she did not mention that the ‘telephone tapping case’ filed by the TDP party, Andhra Pradesh Government, is also pending as a counter case to the ‘cash-for-vote case’ filed by the TRS party, Telangana
Government. Therefore, I request you to give strong and effective orders to consider the following matters in the final judgment. ‘In 2016, Chandrababu Naidu and Revanth Reddy summoned me in the TDP Mahanadu and explained to me the issue of the vote-for-note case, and ordered that TRS MLA LV Stevenson be convinced for five crores for the crime of cheating the MLA votes of the people’s representatives won by one party in the MLC election against the party rules and constitutional laws, and that Chandrababu Revanth Reddy and all others who encouraged me and made me commit the crime should be thoroughly investigated,’ said Mathaiah in the complaint to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.
‘When the cash for vote case started, Lokesh’s close associates Kilari Rajesh, Revanth’s follower Jimmy Babu, who tied my hands and feet, blindfolded me and transported me in the trunk of a car to hide me from the Telangana police and ACB officials, forcibly kidnapped me and transported me from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, and kept me in hiding for about 6-7 months in the surrounding areas of Vijayawada, did not show me, my wife, children, parents and our family members, kept me away from my Christian community, and especially the police officers who secretly locked me in dark rooms in various places in Andhra state so that the Telangana police could not find me, and kept me in the forests and tortured me,’ said Mathaiah, claiming that his statement before Magistrate under Section 164 was done by force. ‘Made me sign more than 100 white papers and Vakalat papers,’ he added.
He also said that four years ago he had already filed a ‘Party in Person’ petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to testify as an approver. However, he claims former SC judge Justice L Nageswara Rao, close to Chandrababu, ensured that an ‘amicus curiae favorable to Naidu’ was appointed to silence him and bury the truth. ‘I request you to immediately issue special orders to conduct a vote-for-note inquiry in this very court under the supervision of the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, or to conduct this inquiry in the Delhi High Court or any other state High Court, other than the Telangana High Court and Andhra Pradesh High Court,’ said Mathaiah in his four page complaint to CJI.