Akansha Upadhyay
Published on – 25 November 2022 at 17:08 IST
The Supreme Court set aside the directions given by the Telangana High Court on 15 November, which allowed the Special Investigation Team of the Telangana Police to conduct a high court-monitored probe into the alleged poaching case of TRS MLAs.
The three accused in the case – Ramchandra Bharti, Kore Nandu Kumar and D.P.S.K.V.N. Allowing a petition filed by Simhayaji, the Supreme Court requested the Single Bench to consider the writ petition filed by him seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI on its own merits and expeditiously in accordance with law.
Both the parties – the accused and the State of Telangana – agreed that the matter needed to be reconsidered on its own merits by a Single Judge without being influenced by the observations made by the Division Bench.
The Division Bench, while refusing to transfer the probe to the CBI, had directed the SIT to conduct the investigation under the supervision of the High Court and not report it to any political or executive agency. The SIT was also directed to submit its first report in a sealed cover before the single bench and was restrained from leaking information to the media.
Rejecting the directions of the Division Bench, the Supreme Court observed, “We find that certain directions issued by the learned Judges of the Division Bench are not sustainable in law”.
The bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath also refused to entertain the appeals filed by the accused challenging the October 29 order, in which the High Court had directed the petitioners to surrender before the Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad Commissionerate. The court asked the High Court that if the bail applications filed by the petitioners be considered expeditiously.
The three petitioners were arrested by the Cyberabad police for allegedly trying to trap four TRS MLAs by paying them huge sums of money. The first Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases in Hyderabad had dismissed the remand application filed by the assistant. Police Commissionerate, Rajendranagar Division, Cyberabad Commissionerate.
The trial judge rejected the remand application on the ground that the accused persons had not been issued the mandatory notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The lower court’s order was challenged by the state government In the High Court. The State argued that the observations made in Arnesh Kumar’s case would not be applicable in the case.
Setting aside the order of the trial court, the High Court had directed the petitioners to surrender. The trial court considered the bail applications in accordance with the Supreme Court order dated November 4 and dismissed the same.
Case Title- Ramachandra Barathi @ Sathish Sharma V.K. vs State of Telangana