Telangana High Court grants bail to 3 accused in MLAs' poaching case

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

Ramachandra Bharati, Nand Kumar and D.P.S.K.V. Simhayaji were granted conditional bail by the court. Justice B. Sumalatha directed the accused to pay a personal bond of Rs 3 lakh and two sureties each.

The court also asked them to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) every Monday.

The High Court had on Wednesday restrained SIT from arresting two of the accused, Tushar Vellapally and B. Srinivas but directed them to cooperate with the probe team.

Justice B. Vijayasen Reddy adjourned to December 6 the hearing on the petitions seeking transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The SIT on Wednesday submitted to the court a report on the investigation along with documents, CDs, pen drivers and other evidence. The probe team argued that the investigation was going on in a fair manner.

Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Simhayaji and Nanda Kumar were arrested by the Cyberabad police from a farmhouse at Moinabad near Hyderabad on the night of October 26 when they were allegedly trying to lure four MLAs of TRS with offers of huge money.

Cyberabad police conducted the raid on a tip-off by Pilot Rohit Reddy, one of the MLAs. He alleged that the accused offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three others.

The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act.

BJP general secretary B.L. Santosh, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) president Tushar Vellapally and a doctor from Kerala, Jaggu Swamy, lawyers Srinivas and Pratap Goud and Nanda Kumar's wife Chitralekha were also summoned by the SIT for questioning.

However, Santosh, Tushar and Jaggu Swamy have still not appeared before SIT.