Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday quashed criminal proceedings initiated by the Telangana ACB against Jerusalem Mathaiah, one of the accused in the cash-for-vote scam. Justice B. Siva Sankara Rao, while allowing the quash petition filed by Mathaiah, said, “As per committing the offence under various Sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, no offence under Section of the Act has been made out, much less any offence under Section 120 (B) or 34 IPC or Section 107 IPC against the petitioner A-4, much less from the alleged commission of offence by the de-facto complainant (Elvis Stephenson, nominated MLA of TRS) under Section 7 and 11 of IPC Act.”
Referring to the Seeta Hemachandra versus state of Maharashtra, the judge said in that case it was held that if the allegations made in the complaint prima facie did not satisfy the ingredients of the PC Act, the Court can quash the proceedings by exercising inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr PC. It may be reminded that on May 31, 2015, ACB sleuths caught red-handed TD MLA A. Revanth Reddy while he was offering '50 lakh as bribe to Elvis Stephenson, nominated MLA of TRS.
Mr Stephenson complained to the ACB authorities on May 28, 2015 that Mathaiah Jerusalem offered him '2 crore and a ticket to leave the country for voting in favour of the TD in the biennial elections for MLC posts scheduled on June 1, 2015. He also complained that Bishop Harry Sebastian offered him '5 crore to abstain from casting his vote or to vote in favour of the TD and the entire transaction will be dealt by Mr Revanth Reddy personally.
Based on this complaint, the ACB registered the case against Revanth Reddy, Bishop Harry Sebastian, Udayasimha, Mathaiah and Sandra Venkata Veeraiah under Section 12 of the PC Act the Prevention of Corruption Act and under Section 120 (B) IPC.
