HC: Inquiry against Naidu not necessary

​Hyderabad: In a major relief to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the High Court at Hyderabad on Friday quashed the order passed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau special court that had directed re-investigation into the cash-for-vote scam, including probing the role of Chandrababu Naidu.

Justice T Sunil Chowdary delivered a 97-page judgment on the petition filed by Chandrababu Naidu seeking quashing of the ACB special court order.

In the judgment, he upheld the contentions of Naidu's senior counsel Siddhartha Luthra and Standing Counsel of ACB that YSRCP MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy has no locus standi in filing the private complaint before the ACB special court.

In fact, the court observed that “in view of the prevailing scenario in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the possibility of filing the complaint by the second respondent (Alla Ramakrishna Reddy) in order to take political and personal vengeance against the petitioner (N Chandrababu Naidu) cannot be ruled out
completely.”

It also asserted that “a person, who approached the court under the guise of public interest with a hidden agenda, cannot be permitted to use the court as a forum to settle the personal and political scores.”

In what could be good news for Chandrababu Naidu, the High Court has also raised doubts about authenticity of the alleged telephonic conversation between Naidu and independent nominated MLA in Telangana state Assembly, Stephenson, wherein there is conversation regarding voting for the MLC elections.

The judgment notes that “there is no authenticity for the alleged telephonic conversation. In the absence of any semblance of legal authenticity of the electronic document, it is not safe to place reliance on it even for taking cognizance of offence, when the same is the sole basis.”

The judge came to the conclusion that the YSRCP MLA obtained all the documents related to the case 'in an inappropriate manner.'

The judgment observed that the alleged telephonic conversation does not prima facie satisfy the ingredients of Section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act or Section 120-B of IPC.

It also notes that if the order of the ACB special court is allowed to stand, then the ACB of Telangana has no option but to register the second FIR basing on the same set of facts, which is not permissible under law.

In the light of these grounds, the judge allowed the quash petition filed by Chandrababu Naidu and quashed the order of ACB special court. The petition filed by former member of Parliament Undavalli Arun Kumar also stands dismissed.

Meanwhile, both YSRCP MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy and his counsel P Sudhakar Reddy announced that they would challenge the verdict of the High Court at Hyderabad in the Supreme Court shortly.

Speaking to the reporters after the judgment was delivered, they said that Chandrababu Naidu is used to getting orders quashed and contrasted this with P V Narasimha Rao and J Jayalalithaa, who never filed quash petitions while facing charges.