Hyderabad: TRS MLA Elvis Stephenson on Tuesday moved the Hyderabad High Court urging Justice B .Siva Shankar Rao to recuse himself from hearing a quash petition by Jerusalem Mathaiah, one of accused in the cash-for-vote case. Mr Stephenson is the complainant in the case.
Mr Mathaiah’s quash petition is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday, along with the bail petitions of Telugu Desam MLA A. Revanth Reddy and the others who have been arrested in the case.
Mr Stephenson moved a criminal miscellaneous application before the judge stating that he was apprehensive that his complaint might be quashed, especially given the sequence of events that had taken place in hearing the quash petition of the absconding accused on June 18 on an out-of-turn basis and also with the court granting a stay of his arrest till June 24.
He alleged that these events seemed to be predetermined and predisposed. He submitted that at about 8.30 am on June 18, the office of the Additional Advocate-General of Andhra Pradesh had informed the standing counsel for the ACB that a mention would be made at 10:30 am before the court for taking up the matter on an out of turn basis, which was unusual and unprecedented as the AA-G was not holding any Vakalat nor appearing in the matter.
Mr Stephenson said that the public prosecutor of Andhra Pradesh duly made a mention at 10.30 am before the court on behalf of the accused, requesting the court to take up the matter out of turn, which was also unusual and unprecedented.
