A single-judge bench of the High Court comprising Justice C. Manavendranath Roy on Thursday reserved its judgement on a quash petition filed by former Advocate-General (A-G) Dammalapati Srinivas against the case booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly purchasing lands in Amaravati against certain rules and helping 12 others in similar transactions in the capital region.
Appearing for the State, Advocate-General S. Sriram told the court that the complaint had revealed a cognisable offence and the decision to take it up for further investigation was bona fide and legitimate and all the procedures and processes leading to the registration of the FIR were followed. He argued that the case could not be faulted on the ground of motives or political aspersions.
Mr. Sriram further contended it was incorrect to say that the FIR was initiated on the basis of the profile of the probable accused and maintained that the case has the trappings of a scam/offence and the accused were incidental to the prosecution.
He said no investigation was possible because a stay was imposed earlier, and the rest of it was for the court to decide.
It may be noted that the former A-G was accused of buying lands in Amaravati for himself and facilitating purchases by some others, including the relatives of a judge of the Supreme Court, by misusing his authority. The High Court had granted a stay on the FIR and ordered that no coercive action should be taken until further orders.
