The Supreme Court has dismissed Special Leave Petitions filed by the State of Telangana and the complainant challenging a Telangana High Court order that quashed proceedings against an accused (A4) in a bribery case linked to the 2015 MLC elections.
The case stemmed from a complaint by an MLA alleging that he was offered ₹2 crore and later ₹5 crore to abstain or vote in favour of a political party. While audio and video recordings allegedly showed bribery attempts by certain individuals, the Court noted that A4, the petitioner before the High Court, was not present during the incident and had no proven connection to the alleged transaction.
The Bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran held that the High Court had rightly quashed the proceedings against A4, as the allegations were vague and unsupported by material evidence. The Court rejected the contention that the High Court had conducted a “mini trial,” observing that the order contained justifiable reasons to conclude that no cognizable offence was made out against A4.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court refused to interfere and dismissed the petitions, bringing closure to the proceedings against A4.
Appearances:
Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, learned Senior Counsel appeared for the State and Mr. G. Prakash, learned counsel appeared for the complainant inthe separate Special Leave Petition
