Telangana HC clears CBI probe into poach-gate scandal, quashes state govt's appeal

The poach-gate scandal involved alleged attempts by three members with reported links to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to lure four members of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to switch the party, was reportedly unearthed through a sting operation in October 2022. Telangana High Court (Representative image/ANI)

The Telangana High Court’s division bench headed by chief justice Ujjal Bhuyan on February 6 cleared the decks for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the poaching of Telangana MLAs, while quashing the Telangana government’s appeal against the CBI probe and for the continuation of a probe by the state police.

The development comes amidst the decision of the Telangana government to withdraw the general consent earlier given to the CBI in the state under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 which enables the central agency to exercise its authority in the state.

While upholding the decision of a single judge of the same court earlier, the division bench of the High Court comprising chief justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji refused to stay the operation of its judgement. The bench turned down the request of the Telangana Advocate General BS Prasad to stay the operation of the judgement to enable the state government to challenge the order before the Supreme Court.

The poach-gate scandal involved alleged attempts by three members with reported links to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to lure four members of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to switch the party, was reportedly unearthed through a sting operation in October 2022.

The Telangana police, who claimed to have laid a trap to catch the accused red-handed, continued the probe into the scandal under a special investigation team (SIT) as ordered by the BRS government.

The arrested members under police custody moved the Telangana High Court challenging the probe while alleging an unfair probe with political motives. They alleged that the investigation was not being carried out in an unbiased and fair manner and that the chief minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao had condemned the accused publicly by branding them as conspirators and guilty even before the investigation could proceed to an advanced stage.

The High Court single judge on December 26, 2022, while observing a biased probe by the state police has compromised the rights of the arrested, had entrusted the probe to the CBI. The judge quashed the investigation so far carried out by the state police and asked the central agency to proceed with a de novo investigation into the matter.

On February 6, the division bench of the High Court said the single judge had used his criminal jurisdiction while passing the order and as a result, an appeal in criminal cases have to go only to the Supreme Court and not the same High Court. The Ujjal Bhuyan-headed division bench viewed that there cannot be an intra-court appeal in the criminal matters, while quashing the plea of the Telangana government against the order of the single judge who had entrusted the probe to the CBI. The division bench termed the appeal by the BRS government “as being not maintainable.”