Hyderabad: Anti Corruption Bureau officials probing the cash-for-vote case want to interrogate arrested MLA A. Revanth Reddy regarding the source of the Rs 50 lakh that was seized from him. It is suspected that hawala might have been used to disburse the remaining amount of Rs 4.5 crore to nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson by giving him a secret code as was revealed in the taped conversations.
In a petition filed in the special court on Thursday while seeking police custody of Revanth Reddy and two others, the ACB revealed that it wanted to dig deep into the scam and trace the “other conspirators who participated in the conspiracy”.
In the petition, ACB deputy superintendent of police Ashok Kumar said the agency wanted to elicit the source of the money offered to the complainant, Mr Stephenson, and to know who funded the bribe amount. “The material evidence on record has disclosed that the accused, apart from paying Rs 50 lakh cash, which was seized, also promised to deliver the remaining amount of Rs 4.5 crore. The accused must have concealed the Rs 4.5 crore, which had to be delivered to Mr Stephenson on June 1, the day after the completion of the process of voting for MLC elections in Telangana,” the petition said.
“The amount has to be traced. The source of huge money pressed into service for the commission of offence is within the exclusive knowledge of the accused. So, interrogation of the accused is needed,” it said.
The ACB also said that the accused had to be questioned about various calls made by the other accused. The ACB has already collected call data records. “It is necessary to prove all aspects relating to the conspiracy in this case,” the ACB said.
Investigating officials also said the places where meetings took place to plan the offence had to be identified. Mr Ashok Kumar added that all efforts by ACB to trace the other accused, Jerusalem Matthaih (accused number 4), had been in vain.
