Revanth Reddy ‘trap’ is legal, say experts

Hyderabad: Legal experts refute the Telugu Desam’s argument in the cash-for-vote case, that a sting operation is not legally valid.

The party’s argument is that the evidence procured through a sting operation would not stand before the law. However, in the case of TD MLA Revanth Reddy, the evidence procured by ACB through a sting operation will play a key role.

Speaking to DC, AP finance minister and advocate Yanamala Rama Krishnudu said the SC has told that based on a sting operation, nobody can be convicted.

However, legal experts said a sting operation is legally valid and cases can be booked with the evidence of tapes procured. Madabhushi Sridhar, Central Information Commissioner and former professor of Nalsar Law University, said that sting is valid.

He said that Mr Revanth Reddy’s case is called “legal entrapment”. He said, “It is wrong to say that trapping is illegal in ACB cases. Though, “trap” is not used in Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, legitimate trapping is a judicially accepted practice.

Senior criminal advocate Praduymna Kumar Reddy too said that the sting is legally valid. Another senior advocate quoted the Watergate case and former PM P. V. Narasimha Rao’s Rs 1 crore case. In these two cases, recorded tapes were taken as evidence.