Cash-for-vote scam: Telangana High Court rejects discharge appeal of accused

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday rejected the appeal of R. Uday Simha, one of the accused, seeking discharge in the cash-for-vote scam of May 2015.

Justice Shamim Akther rejected the appeal, stating that when the case was in the trial stage, it would not be proper to discharge the accused. Uday Simha was arrested along with A. Revanth Reddy, then a Telugu Desam leader and now with the Congress, while giving Rs 50 lakh to Elvis Stephenson, a nominated MLA, to vote in favour of a Telugu Desam Candidate in the Legislative Council elections.

Earlier, the ACB court had also rejected the discharge petition of Uday Simha following which he moved the High Court with an appeal petition.

In another development on Thursday regarding the cash-for-vote scam case, the ACB court recorded the statements of Stephenson, who first lodged the complaint with the ACB, about the proposal given to him by Revanth Reddy and others, asking him to vote in favor of the TD candidate.