Special ACB court rejects Telangana Congress leader A Revanth Reddy's plea over cash-for-vote case

HYDERABAD: In a setback to Congress MP and TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy, the Special ACB court on Friday dismissed the petition filed by Revanth who contended that the cash-for-vote case does not fall under the purview of the Anti Corruption Bureau, but that of the Election Commission. 

Revanth is the prime accused in the case wherein a bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh was offered to then nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson for securing his vote in favour of Telugu Desam candidate Vem Narender Reddy in the MLC elections held in June 2015.

After hearing the arguments in the petition filed by the MP, the Special ACB court made it clear that the cash-for-vote scam case falls under the ACB's purview. This is because it is a specialised agency which tackles the problem of corrupt public servants and registers cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

Case history

On May 31, 2015, ACB sleuths caught Revanth Reddy, then a TDP MLA, red-handed while he was offering Rs 50 lakh as bribe to Elvis Stephenson, a nominated MLA of the TRS.

On May 28, Stephenson had complained to the ACB authorities that Mathaiah Jerusalem had offered him Rs 2 crore and a ticket to leave the country after casting his vote in favour of the TDP party candidate in the biennial elections for MLC posts scheduled on June 1, 2015.

 He also complained that Bishop Sebastian Harry contacted him and offered Rs 5 crore to abstain from casting his vote.