MLA poaching case: Telangana High Court grants bail to three accused

The Telangana High Court on Thursday granted bail to three accused in MLAs' poaching case.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to the three prime accused – Ramchandra Bharathi, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji – in the MLA poaching case.

Justice C Sumalatha, granting the conditional bail, said each accused should execute a personal bond of Rs.3 lakh along with two sureties. The judge further directed the accused to appear before the SIT every Monday in the morning hours. The three accused had filed individual bail applications.

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Senior counsel L Ravichander, representing Nanda Kumar, led the arguments and pointed out that the Section 41-A notice under CrPC was notice complied and as such arrest was illegal. The judge observed that the accused had been in jail for 30 days and all the material required had already been collected by the investigating agency.

She said it was not the case of the prosecution that grant of bail would be in violation of various principles guiding courts in such cases. The judge accordingly granted bail to the three accused.

The three were arrested on October 26 from a farmhouse in Moinabad on charges of attempting to lure four TRS MLAs to join the BJP by offering huge sums of money apart from Central posts and contracts.