The investigation into the cash-for-vote case took a new turn on Tuesday with the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Telangana deciding to question Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, Telugu Desam MLA for Sathupally, Khammam, and MLC nominee Vem Narendar Reddy. Officials visited the residence of Mr. Narendar Reddy and served notice on him. They could not serve notice on Mr. Veeraiah as he was away when they visited his quarters at Hyderguda. “He would be examined after the notice is served under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” said investigators who chose not to reveal their names.
Sources said the officials wanted to ascertain the possible complicity of Mr. Veeraiah based on evidence in the call data record of the mobile phones seized in the case. The late-night development capped a day of frenzied speculation in a section of the media on the possibility of the bureau serving notices on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and other top Telugu Desam leaders. An investigator, however, said, “it [issuing notice to Mr. Naidu] is not going to happen immediately”.
A flurry of meetings of officials and party functionaries at the residences and offices of the two Chief Ministers was the perfect trigger for television channels to go into breaking-news mode.
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The high-profile meetings started before 10 a.m. when Anti-Corruption Bureau chief A.K. Khan met Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to discuss the progress in the cash-for-vote scam.
“Surely, names of two or three persons would be figuring in the case anytime and their interrogation too could follow, but no notice to Mr. Naidu now,” police officers associated with the investigation said, seeking anonymity.
Any decision would be taken only after taking opinions of legal experts, they said.
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Director-General of Police, Telangana, Anurag Sharma and City Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy called on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, but it is not clear what transpired at the 30-minute meeting.
As the electronic media began reporting these “developments” as breaking news, the pace of activity picked up at Mr. Naidu’s residence and later in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat. Director-General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, J.V. Ramudu and Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao were closeted with Mr. Naidu. By evening, the government directed the police to take over security of its buildings.
Mr. Naidu held discussions with Cabinet colleagues at the Secretariat. A formal Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Ministers who were present at the meeting held a press conference to say that the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Telangana had no jurisdiction or power to serve notice on Mr. Naidu.
Later in the day, the police chief and the Chief Secretary called on the Governor and reportedly briefed him on the developments relating to the case and the move to deploy the police at key installations.
The government constituted a special team to investigate 87 cases booked against the Telangana Chief Minister by various people in Andhra Pradesh on charges of phone-tapping and harassment of Telugu Desam functionaries in Hyderabad.