Cash-for-vote scam: Telangana ACB has 3 options for action against Chandrababu Naidu

Hyderabad: The Telangana Anti Corruption Bureau is mulling three legal options regarding taking action against AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in the cash-for-vote case.

According to ACB sources, the first option is to serve notice to Mr Naidu after receiving the forensic report on the audiotapes, which is likely to be before June 28. The notice will ask him to appear before the ACB and give a statement either under 160 CrPC or 161 CrPC. It will depend on the report, stating whether the tapes are genuine or doctored.

“After the ACB court receives the FSL report, the investigating agency may file a petition seeking voice test samples or controlled samples of Naidu. “The other option is to file a memo in the court adding Naidu as an accused in the FIR.

The last option is to send a written questionnaire to him asking about the facts he knows about the case,” said an ACB source. “There is no let up in the cash for vote scam. There is no deal between KCR and Naidu as has been alleged by some. Naidu will be booked and it’s only a matter of time," a senior TRS leader said.

Meanwhile, ACB is preparing counter arguments as Mr Revanth Reddy’s bail petition is coming up in AP High Court in two days. When a reporter asked home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy about the Andhra Pradesh government’s SIT probe on phone tapping, he said, “Telangana government did not tap anyone’s phone. It (allegation) is only mind tapping, but there is no phone tapping. We are ready to face any action. Will they go to jail if their allegation is wrong?