AP HC suspends Kothapalli Geeta’s conviction, clears path to contest LS polls
Hyderabad: In a relief to former Araku MP Kothapalli Geeta, whereby she can contest in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana High Court on Monday suspended her conviction in an alleged default of `42 crore to a nationalised bank.
Earlier, the CBI court had convicted Geeta and her husband and ordered five years imprisonment on charges of duping Punjab National Bank to the tune of `42.79 crore. Based on the earlier orders of the court, the CBI had taken her into custody. Challenging the same, she approached the High Court, which in 2022 stayed the CBI court orders till further orders.
As the case was pending before the High court and the order of the CBI court was in vogue, Geeta stood to be disqualified from the election.
Justice K. Lakshman was dealing with the petition filed by Geeta, who requested the court to suspend the conviction.
Her counsel argued that without the suspension of conviction, she would be disqualified from contesting in the elections.