Revanth Reddy Case: HC Stays Arrest of A4 Mathaiah

An accused in the Revanth Reddy note-for-vote case, Jerusalem Mathaiah, who had the Telangana ACB officials hunting for him ever since the arrest of TDP MLA Revanth Reddy and two others on May 31, knocked the doors of the Hyderabad High Court pleading innocence.

And in a major relief to him, the High Court granted a stay on his arrest.

The ACB was also directed by the High Court to file a counter, and the case was posted for hearing on June 24.

It might be mentioned here that Mathaiah had been named as A4 in the scandal, and has remained underground ever since May 31 even though Revanth Reddy and two others are cooling their heels in jail.

Mathaiah surfaced in Vijayawada in between and filed a complaint in various places against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandashekar Rao alleging that he was subjected to bullying, threatening and even assault on the eve of the recent MLC elections which turned into a political minefield for the two Telugu states.

Mathaiah's complaint came in handy for the ruling TDP of AP, which had resorted to a counter-offensive to probe cases filed against KCR after the Telangana ACB launched a vigorous probe to ascertain the alleged complicity of AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in the note-for-vote scam.

In lightning speed the AP government even set up a Special Investigation Team headed by Mohammed Iqbal, who had worked as Security Officer to Naidu during the erstwhile TDP regime, to probe over 80 cases reportedly filed in various police stations against KCR for intimidation as alleged by Mathaiah and for phone-tapping.

A petition being filed by Mathaiah in the High Court wherein he pleaded his innocence in the scandal and said that he was being falsely implicated in the matter, and the stay order, were sudden and surprising developments. (NSS)