HC gives go-ahead to SIT to probe Poachgate case with conditions

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court's division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy on Tuesday heard the writ appeal filed by the State BJP, represented by its general secretary Premendar Reddy seeking to direct the investigation to be carried into the poaching case to CBI or SIT.

The bench directed the SIT which has been constituted with City Police Commissioner CV Anand as chairman to continue its investigation. The court directed the SIT to submit its report on investigation in a sealed cover to the single bench judge headed by Justice BollamVijaysen Reddy by November 29.

It said the single judge shall monitor the SIT investigation. The SIT shall not disclose the progress of the investigation to the government or political authority, as well as the media. There shall be no selective leakages of the investigation or the material gathered during the probe.

It is the responsibility of Anand to ensure that the same is scrupulously followed, and to maintain decorum and secrecy in the investigation. The court ordered SIT to furnish the material to only single judge to enable him to monitor the case.

Earlier, counsel for the petitioner (BJP), Vidyanathan Chidambaresh submitted that the allegation made against the party is politically motivated and that it fears unfair investigation is on. He informed the court that an anomaly in the remand diary has been noticed. On October 26 a case was booked but it was signed on October 27 by the investigating officer. A cooked up story was created to destabilise the party.

"The party's name has been mentioned more than once. That means I am not a stranger to the case and it's unfair to vacate the petition by the single bench at this juncture."

The Chief Justice queried whether the investigation is continuing.

Vaidyanathan submitted that the petitioner was unnecessarily roped into the case matter. "The petitioner party is not a local party like TRS. I am a national party which is governing the country".

"This is not a case to quash the FIR; we submit to direct the Central investigating authorities, like CBI or SIT, to probe the case". On behalf of the State, senior counsel of Supreme Court Dushyant Dave informed the court that the investigation continued for two days. "Seizure panchnama was drafted on October 26 and signatures obtained on October 27. It's a usual process in the investigation. Moreover, courts can't stop investigation in cognisable cases".

He said it's a serious matter today that democracy is facing a very serious challenge. It's the petitioner party's money which has brought down governments in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and many other States. "We all know what is happening".

"To scuttle the investigation, an attempt has been made. The appeal is not maintainable. The court may dismiss the plea", Dave concluded his submissions. After hearing all submissions, the CJ bench directed the SIT to go ahead with the investigation with conditions and disposed of the appeal.