Court orders on TDP MLA's bail plea on June 30

The Hyderabad High Court on Friday posted to June 30 orders on bail petition of TDP legislator A. Revanth Reddy in the cash-for-vote case.

The court reserved its orders after hearing arguments from both the public prosecutor and Revanth Reddy's counsel.

Telangana Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy opposed the bail plea on the ground that, if released,l the accused could tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses as he is a legislator in Telangana and his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is in power in Andhra Pradesh.

He submitted to the court that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report on video and audio tapes in the case was still awaited.

The advocate general also told the judge that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was yet to ascertain from where the accused planned to arrange the remaining Rs.4.5 crore for a Rs.5 crore deal to induce a nominated legislator to vote for a TDP-BJP candidate.

Revanth Reddy, deputy leader of TDP in Telangana state legislative assembly, was arrested by the ACB on May 31 when he was trying to give Rs.50 lakh as bribe to nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to induce him to vote for the TDP-BJP candidate in the Telangana state legislative council elections.

Ramakrishna Reddy said horse trading was a serious issue as buying 10 MLAs could lead to the government's fall.

The MLA's counsel Siddharth Luthra argued that the ACB has already questioned him and two other accused in the case and that there was nothing more the agency can elicit by keeping him in custody. He said he had no objections if the court grants bail with certain conditions.

Revanth Reddy's two aides were also arrested in the trap laid by the ACB on a complaint by Stephenson. The entire episode was also recorded on a camera.

The FSL, after examining the video and audio tapes and the call data from the mobile phones of the accused, submitted its preliminary report along with the tapes in a sealed cover to he ACB court.

Meanwhile, the ACB court on Friday opened the sealed cover and examined the report and other contents.

The ACB has filed a memo seeking a copy of the FSL report to proceed further in the case.