Hyderabad:The special court for ED cases here on Tuesday directed Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to appear before it on October 16. The orders were issued on a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in relation to the Rs 50 lakh cash transaction in the 2015 cash-for-vote case, in which he is an accused.
Revanth Reddy has to appear before the court on October 16, because the case is in the stage of framing of charges, a crucial step in the criminal justice system. The charges will be explained and the accused is asked whether they plead guilty to the offence.
Revanth Reddy and other accused were supposed to appear on Tuesday. Except for Mathaiah Jerusalem, the others did not appear in court. The court directed all the accused including Revanth Reddy, Vem Krishna Keertan, son of CM’s adviser Vem Narender Reddy, Uday Simha, former legislator Sandra Venkata Veeriah and Sebastian and others to appear at the next hearing.
If Revanth Reddy appears on October 16, he would be the second Chief Minister to come to the Nampally court as an accused, after then AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who appeared before the CBI court at Nampally.
Separately, Revanth Reddy was issued summons by the special court at Nampally to appear on Wednesday, in a defamation case filed by the BJP’s Kasam Venkateswarlu. The complainant said that Revanth Reddy had made false and baseless allegations against the BJP during the recent Lok Sabha election campaign, which included the charge that the BJP would remove the reservations and amend the Constitution.
