City court summons CM in excise case: BJP

Hyderabad: The State BJP on Thursday said the Special Judicial First Class Magistrate for Excise case has summoned CM A Revanth Reddy to appear in person on September 24.

The summons have been issued for offences under Sections 499, 171C, 171G, 153 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 125 of the Representation of Peoples Act.

The BJP said the summons were issued following the criminal case lodged by party general secretary Kasam Venkateshwarlu (CC no 312/2024) in the court on May 14. The party had filed a criminal complaint before the court against the CM for making provocative and basevless statements during the 2024 elections that if voted to power “BJP will abolish SC, ST and BC reservations in India”.

In the complaint alleged that the CM’s statements harmed the party’s reputation in eyes of voters; making such false statements with intent to unduly influence voters amounts to election offences under law. After, considering the documents filed by the complainant, examining the witnesses and hearing arguments of the counsel Hamsa Devineni and senior counsel Vijay Kumar Devineni, the court issued summons, the party said.