Three accused arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs were sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a special Anti-Corruption Bureau court late Saturday, The Indian Express reported.
The TRS was renamed as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi on October 5, heralding the regional party’s foray into national politics.
The development comes after the Telangana High Court had set aside an earlier order by a lower court, which on October 27 had rejected the remand of the three accused over not following the procedure of issuing a notice before the arrest. The government had then appealed before the High Court against the lower court’s order, PTI reported.
After the Saturday’s order, the three accused K Nanda Kumar, Ramachandra Bharathi alias Satish Sharma, and D Simhayaji were asked by the court to surrender before the Cyberabad police, and they were taken into custody.
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The three men, whom Cyberabad police said were BJP agents, were arrested on Wednesday night from a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Moinabad. They were allegedly discussing plans to pay bribes to four TRS MLAs. Acting on a tip-off by Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, Cyberabad police had set up cameras and voice recorders to trap the three men who were discussing deals to pay about Rs 50-100 crore to lure TRS MLAs to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Based on a complaint by P Rohith Reddy, the police had filed cases under relevant sections – criminal conspiracy, offering bribes and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 – against the trio on October 26.
Meanwhile, the BJP has accused the TRS of planting fake stories and diverting people’s attention from main issues ahead of the Munugode byelection that is scheduled to be held on November 3.
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Following the allegations, the saffron party has filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking a probe into it by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).