Telangana HC refuses to stay ED probe into BRS MLAs' poaching case

HYDERABAD: In yet another setback to BRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday refused to grant a stay on the investigation of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) into the BRS MLAs' poaching case. The High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by the Tandur MLA seeking interim directions to stall the ED proceedings in the case.

The Telangana High Court also refused to intervene in the matter pertaining to the ED summons asking Pilot Rohith Reddy to appear before it for further questioning on December 30. Justice K Lakshman heard the arguments on the writ petition filed by Rohith Reddy. The legislator, in his petition, reportedly questioned the locus standi of the ED when there was no money-laundering involved in the MLAs' poaching case.

Senior advocate and YSRCP Rajya Sabha Member Niranjan Reddy presented the arguments on behalf of Rohith Reddy. While claiming that he was offered Rs 100 crores by the deal brokers as an enticement to change his political loyalties from the BRS (then TRS) to the BJP, Rohith Reddy made it clear that no money changed hands in this regard.

As there were no financial transactions involved, the ED has no jurisdiction to investigate the case under the provisions of money-laundering, the counsel for the petitioner argued. Hence, the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed by the agency is illegal and untenable, he maintained.

Rohith Reddy also expressed his anguish that the investigating agency had been harassing him for his personal details.

The High Court judge however refused to issue any interim directions stalling the ED's proceedings in the case. The court also refused to intervene in the agency's summons issued to Rohith Reddy asking him to appear for further questioning on December 30.

The High Court, while asking the ED to file its counter over the writ petition, adjourned the hearing to January 5.

Pilot Rohith Reddy, the BRS MLA from Tandur, was one of the four legislators who were allegedly lured with heavy enticements to shift their loyalties from the BRS to the BJP. The accused in the case – Ramachandra Bharathi, Simhayaji and Nandu Kumar – were earlier arrested based on a complaint from Rohith Reddy following the sensational expose of their alleged poaching attempt at a Moinabad farmhouse on October 26, 2022.

Recently, the Telangana High Court ordered the transfer of the MLAs' poaching case investigation from the hands of SIT to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as sought by the BJP through a petition.

Pilot Rohith Reddy was already grilled by the ED once in connection with the case even as the Tandur MLA expressed his dismay at the agency plunging into the case when there was no scope for monetary transaction or money-laundering in the poaching scandal. He expressed the apprehensions that the ED was trying to record the statement of Nandu Kumar, one of the accused, with the sole intention of somehow implicating him in the case.