Hyderabad: Did too many mediators spoil the party for Telugu Desam MLA Revanth Reddy and land him in jail?
Like in the cash for bail scam, in which too many mediators approached CBI court judge T. Pattabhi Rama Rao for Gali Janardhan Reddy’s bail, quoting different rates running into tens of crores, in Mr Revanth Reddy case too, the ACB alleged that it was self-styled Christian leader Jerusalem Mattaiah who initially tried to strike the deal for Rs 2 crore and later others, including Bishop Harry Sebastian, came into the picture. Interestingly, the nominated MLA, Mr Elvis Stephenson, was also offered flight tickets to leave the country.
ACB Deputy Superintendent of Police J. Ashok Kumar, said in the remand case filed in court, “Mr Jerusalem Mattaiah approached Anglo Indian MLA Elvis Stephenson and offered him Rs 2 crore and a ticket to leave the country for voting in favour of the TD in the MLC elections. Later Bishop Sebastian Harry offered him a sum of Rs 5 crore to abstain from casting his vote in favour of TD and the entire transaction was dealt with by Revanth Reddy personally.”
Another mediator, one Mr Jimmy, also came into the picture. ACB said that based on the complaint, their men in plain clothes took vantage positions and kept watch on the surroundings. And when the cash was handed over, they caught them in the act.
A senior official of TS police said, “In the cash for bail scam rowdysheeter Yadagiri had mediated. Before that others had mediated. There were differences among them and the issue was leaked to the CBI.”
Mr Jerusalem Mattaiah, who is yet to be arrested in the case, told TV channels on Tuesday: "I was there initially when the deal started. But I have nothing to do with the cash transactions or bribery. Nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson said he was upset with the TS government and wanted to protect the interests of Christians. He said he was not ready to vote for the government. Revanth Reddy had no role. When they came with the Mahanadu sticker to the house for talks, intelligence sleuths came to know about it and informed CM KCR. The CM called the MLA and warned him and made him turn into a covert 'agent'."
