Vote-for-Note case: Court dismisses Telangana MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah's petition

HYDERABAD: In a setback to MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah and another accused R Udayasimha in the Vote-for-Note scam case, the Special ACB court dismissed their discharge petitions on Monday. The court took into consideration the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s contention that there was evidence that they played key role in the said scam case.

During the course of the hearing earlier, ACB special public prosecutor V Surender Rao told the court that the two accused - Sandra and Udayasimha along with other accused persons A Revanth Reddy, Congress MP, Harry Sebastian and Mathias Jerusalem, were liable for the offences punishable under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.

He said there was no truth in the arguments of the MLA that he was innocent and was dragged into the case. In May 2015, the MLA, who was representing Sathupally segment in Khammam district, along with other accused conspired to commit the offence at TDP Mahanadu meeting held at Gandipet.

As their involvement came to light, the MLA and other accused were arrested and chargesheet was  filed against them in February 2017. The court later granted conditional bail to the MLA, he added.After hearing both sides, the special court dismissed the said discharge petitions. The case pertaining to the scam will come up for hearing on November 4.