HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday allowed the police to investigate an alleged attempt by the BJP to poach four TRS legislators, removing an interim stay on the probe issued on October 29 on a plea filed by the BJP.
A case on the poachgate incident, as it has come to be known, was registered by the Moinabad police. The plea filed by the BJP earlier had sought a probe by the CBI or a neutral agency.
Issuing the order, Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy made it clear that the investigation into a crime of such a nature could not be stalled indefinitely.
Justice Vijaysen Reddy observed, “The petitioner can approach this court with information available with him... he is always at liberty to canvass his grievance, as he has pleaded before the court that this entire poaching of TRS MLAs issue has tarnished the image of the BJP as larger issues are involved and a detailed hearing is required.”
However, the court did not specify any finding about the position of the BJP in the case, as the prosecution pointed out that the political party was neither the accused nor the victim.
The court adjourned the case to November 18 and will hear it in conjunction with a petition filed by Ramachandra Bharati, Kore Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji, the accused, who requested in a separate petition that the CBI take over the probe.
The court directed the police to file a counter to the petition of the accused.
During the hearing, Justice Vijaysen Reddy placed all the contentions put forth by additional advocate general M. J. Ramachander Rao, who was representing the police, and senior counsel J. Prabhakar, who was appearing for the BJP. The order in this regard may be available on Wednesday.
