Hyderabad: The cash-for-vote scam has come back to haunt AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with the principal special judge for ACB cases on Monday ordering the ACB to thoroughly investigate a complaint filed by YSR Congress legislator A. Ramakrishna Reddy.
Mr Ramakrishna Reddy appended reports from forensic labs in Mumbai and London which he said had confirmed that the voice recorded in the conversations was that of Mr Naidu.
Based on this, the YSRC MLA urged the court to make Mr Naidu the key accused in the case and investigate his role as abettor and perpetrator. The Telangana ACB on May 31, 2015, had arrested TD MLA A. Revanth Reddy and a few others in Hyderabad. They were accused of trying to bribe nominated Anglo-Indian MLA Elvis Stephenson Rs 5 crore so as to make him vote for the TD candidate in the MLC elections.
His master’s voice
The ACB on May 31, 2015, had arrested TD MLA A. Revanth Reddy and a few others for “trying to bribe” MLA Elvis Stephenson to vote for the TD candidate in the MLC elections.
The ACB had found a voice in an audio and video conversation purported to be that of Mr Naidu who was heard saying, “Hello good evening brother, how are you? Manavallu briefed me... I am with you...”
ACB report by September 29
The TS ACB had found audio and video of Mr Naidu talking to independent MLA, luring him to vote for the TD. A voice purported to be that of Mr Naidu was heard saying, “Hello good evening brother, how are you? Manavallu briefed me... I am with you. This is our commitment... We will work together.”
Petitioner Ramak-rishna Reddy alleged: “It is evident that Naidu was party to the criminal conspiracy along with the others and abetted defector complainant Elvis to vote in favour of their candidate. MLA Revanth Reddy was caught red-handed with Rs 50 lakh while handing it over to MLA Elvis Stephenson. Naidu must be probed for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.”
The test sample that was sent by Mr Ramakrishna Reddy was taken from Mr Naidu’s speech at Davos and compared with the audio recording. According to the petitioner a forensic lab in Maharashtra had stated in its report, “The auditory analysis of the recorded voice sample of Mr Naidu and the specimen voice sample of are similar.”
The ACB has to submit its report before September 29. Petitioner’s advocate Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy said, “After considering the complaint, the judge directed the agency to investigate the case under Section 156 (3) which provides powers to the judge to monitor it besides placing the persons named as accused in the case.”
