B L Santhosh willfully avoiding SIT summons: Telangana govt tells HC

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Government on Wednesday told the Telangana High Court that BJP national secretary B L Santhosh was willfully avoiding the notice (summons) of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for questioning in the TRS MLAs' poaching case.

The submission came during the hearing in the High Court on a petition filed by the BJP pertaining to the case. The advocate general, arguing for the State Government, claimed that B L Santhosh had been inaccessible since November 16. "Finally, the SIT notice summoning him for questioning was handed over in his office yesterday (22-11-2022). He has been eluding the SIT and willfully avoiding the notice.

"There are suspicions about his alleged involvement in the case (the attempt to lure four TRS MLAs into the BJP fold). His phone contains damning evidence to prove the complicity in the case. If B L Santhosh does not appear before the SIT, then there are chances that evidence can be tampered with," the counsel contended.

Meanwhile, the High Court also reportedly made interesting observations during the course of hearing. Observing that the Telangana BJP had taken up the responsibility of filing a writ petition for the cause of B L Santhosh, the High Court wondered why the state BJP unit was not taking similar responsibility with regard to the SIT Notice to their national secretary.

B L Santhosh ought to respond to the SIT notice in one way or the other, the High Court said while maintaining that the counsel for the petitioner should also make it clear if they wanted to challenge the issuance of the notice under Section 41(A) CrPC. The petitioner's counsel was also asked if B L Santhosh needed more time to appear before the SIT for questioning.

The advocate general, arguing for the State Government, said that the truth would be unravelled if B L Santhosh came before the SIT for questioning.

The counsel for the petitioner sought to clarify that B L Santhosh had not defied legal procedures and maintained that, being a politician, the 70-year-old leader was busy travelling. He has also written to the SIT expressing his inability to appear before it because of the above reasons, he said.

The Telangana High Court maintained that it would proceed with further hearing in the case only after receiving and going through the recent Supreme Court order over a petition connected to the case. The hearing was later adjourned to post lunch at 2:30 pm.