Cash-for-vote case: ACB gets 2-day custody of Telangana TDP MLA

Hyderabad, Jul 8: A local court today granted to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) a two-day custody of Telangana TDP MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, arrested in connection with the cash-for-vote case.

A special court for ACB cases here allowed the probe agency's petition to take Veeraiah into custody and permitted it to question him on July 9 and 10 in the presence of his counsel. ACB had sought Veeraiah's five-day police custody to question him further in connection with the case.

Veeraiah, who was arrested by ACB last Monday, is presently under judicial custody till July 21 and lodged in a jail here. He is the second politicial to be arrested in the cash-for-vote case.

Earlier, another TDP MLA and party's deputy floor leader in Telangana Assembly A Revanth Reddy, the prime accused in the case, was taken into custody.

Veeraiah, who represents Sattupally constituency in Khammam district, allegedly made several calls to co-accused Mattaiah Jerusalem before allegedly contacting nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson in the run up to the MLC polls.

On May 31, Revanth Reddy, alongwith Harry Sebastian and Uday Simha, were arrested by the ACB while allegedly paying a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to Stephenson, for supporting TDP nominee Vem Narendar Reddy in the next day's Legislative Council election.

The trio got bail from the high court last month.

PTI