MLAs poaching case: Telangana HC directs three accused not to leave Hyderabad

The Telangana High Court on Friday granted a lunch motion for hearing the State government, which challenged the rejection of remand of the three accused

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday granted a lunch motion for hearing the State government, which challenged the rejection of remand of the three accused in the case registered in connection with the attempt to purchase four TRS MLAs.

Justice C Sumalatha of the High Court granted the lunch motion, after the State government challenged the ACB Court’s rejection of the remand of Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy, setting them free. However, the Court has directed the accused not to leave Hyderabad and to communicate the details of their stay to the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad. It also directed them to not to resort to any act of tampering evidence.

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The ACB court had found that the offences under Section 120B, 171B read with 171E, 506 R/w 34 Indian Penal Code prescribe punishment up to 7 years only and held non issuance of Section 41-A notice under the Criminal Procedure code as a violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the Arnesh Kumar case.

The State government through Advocate General BS Prasad, contended before the High Court that when the police reasonably believes that the accused were capable of influencing the case and dampening the investigation process, the accused can be taken into custody under Section 41(b) of the Criminal Code.

On the other hand, Vedula Srinivas, Senior Counsel appearing for the accused, sought adjournment to obtain case documents. The judge will continue to hear the case on Saturday.