New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will appoint a special prosecutor to hear the 2015 ‘cash for vote’ scam case in which Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is also an accused. The apex court made this remark while hearing a petition requesting to transfer the trial of the case from Telangana to Bhopal.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, P K Mishra and K V Vishwanathan said it would consult its Telangana colleagues and pass an order at 2 pm. At the beginning of the hearing, senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram, appearing for Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader and MLA G Jagadeesh Reddy and three others, requested the transfer of the case, saying the Telangana chief minister was making public statements on the matter.
“How can we consider (the petition) on the basis of mere apprehension… if we consider such petitions, it will be like not trusting our judicial officers,” the bench said. Sundaram said the Telangana chief minister is himself the home minister.
“The rule of natural justice is that no person should be a judge in his own case,” he said. The bench then said it would pass an order appointing an independent public prosecutor to instill confidence.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had arrested Revanth Reddy on May 31, 2015 when he was allegedly offering a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to support Telugu Desam Party candidate Vem Narendra Reddy in the Legislative Council elections. Apart from Revanth Reddy, the ACB had arrested a few others. All of them were later granted bail.