With two single judges of Telangana High Court on October 29 passing contradictory orders in different petitions connected to the alleged poaching of four TRS MLAs by the BJP, Cyberabad police are caught in a strange situation unable to decide their next move in the case.
Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the HC, while hearing a writ petition filed by the BJP seeking probe by the CBI or a Special Investigation Team into the poaching case, passed an interim order instructing the police to keep in abeyance the ongoing investigation into the case.
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Interestingly, a few minutes before he passed the order, another judge of the HC Justice Chillakur Sumalatha instructed the three accused in the case to surrender before Cyberabad Police Commissioner setting aside the ACB special court judge’s order rejecting remand of the three accused in the case. The two conflicting orders have created a confusion among the police officers as to which order they had to follow.
When Additional Advocate General J. Ramchandra Rao brought to the notice of Justice Vijaysen Reddy that the order was in conflict with the order passed by Justice Sumalatha Bench minutes before, the judge said he would not comment on that direction.
He further said that stalling investigation for four days would not hamper progress of the probe. He posted the matter to November 4 for next hearing.
Earlier, Justice Chillakur Sumalatha set aside the order of ACB special court judge rejecting remand of the three accused in the case of MLAs’ poaching. After hearing the criminal revision petition challenging the remand rejection order filed by Cyberabad police for the second consecutive day on October 29, the judge pronounced the order.
Citing observations of the Supreme Court with regard to issuing notices to accused under section 41A of Cr.P.C., the judge allowed the revision petition and instructed the three accused to surrender themselves before the Cyberabad Police Commissioner. The judge said that if the accused failed to surrender before the police, the latter are at liberty to take action affecting their arrest. The judge said the arrested persons should be presented before the Magistrate for remanding in judicial custody.
Earlier, police arrested three persons belonging to the BJP on the charge of poaching four TRS MLAs by offering huge sums of money. Before they were produced, the ACB Special Court judge had rejected their remand and set them free, observing that police failed to follow apex court guidelines on the case.
