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Three weeks after the cash-for-vote scam broke out, the issue stands as a full-fledged confrontation between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The initial war of words between political leaders has now given way to action, with investigators serving up notices and stepping up the probe.
The scam revolves around TDP MLA in Telangana A Revanth Reddy’s alleged attempt to bribe nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson into voting for a TDP-BJP candidate in the Legislative Council election. The act was reportedly captured on video.
Andhra Pradesh police has served show-cause notices to television channels T News and Sakshi for airing audio clippings of a purported telephonic conversation of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu with Stephenson.
The tapes were supposedly in the possession of the ACB.
In addition, to probe the alleged tapping of telephones of top politicians and bureaucrats, it has sent out notices to at least a dozen telecom service providers to appear in Vijayawada on Monday with call details.
A couple of operators including Vodafone and Uninor reportedly met the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the AP government under police officer Iqbal today.
In New Delhi, the Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi has suggested that the common Governor of AP and Telangana, ESL Narasimhan, supervise the investigation into the case. Under section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, the Governor has the power to do so.
Crucial details Meanwhile, crucial details from Stephenson’s statement to the magistrate are set to provide good ammunition for both the ACB and the concerned political leaders.
According to Stephenson’s statement, ACB officials had set up audio and video recording equipment at the house of his friend Malcolm Taylor’s mother, which was the venue for handing over ₹50 lakh of bribe money.
Harry Sebastian, another accused, is alleged to have played a key role in connecting Stephenson, Revanth Reddy and Naidu.
Forensic check
ACB sleuths have also quizzed TDP legislator V Narayana Reddy and sent out a notice to S Venkata Veeraiah, who wrote back saying he is undergoing medical treatment in AP. He said he can answer queries from the hospital if need be, but cannot make it to Hyderabad for interrogation.
To authenticate the video and audio tapes and the contents, the ACB had sent the records to the State Forensic Science Laboratory.
They are also being sent to a national forensic lab to check the authenticity of the State lab reports and also eliminate possible bias.
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