Hyderabad: BRS Tandur MLA P. Rohith Reddy, the de facto complainant on the party’s behalf in the poachgate case, challenged in the Telangana High Court the summons he received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the alleged attempt to poach ruling party MLAs.
In his petition, the MLA contended that the ED probe was “purported and maliced”. He claimed that the ED was using the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to wrongly implicate him in a backlash for filing a case against the BJP over the alleged attempt to poach MLA. He said the ED was deliberately taking incorrect statements to thwart the probe into the incident.
He asked how the ED could initiate PMLA proceedings as there was no monetary transaction and there was only a promise to pay Rs 100 crore. He said that the proceedings initiated by the ED were “ultra vires and repugnant” to the PMLA.
He requested the court to issue an interim stay on all further proceedings initiated by the ED in the said incident and to declare that the proceedings were being vitiated with malicious intentions.
