Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao
Hyderabad: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Telangana has summoned BJP leaders including general secretary BL Santhosh to appear before it after leaked audio and video tapes named them in 'MLA poaching case'.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao earlier leveled charges at the BJP leadership for alleged attempts to 'buy' lawmakers.
In the leaked tapes, the accused in the case have reportedly mentioned the names of the top BJP leaders, according to a NDTV.
The tapes however carry no identifier like voice, email ID that could link the accused men to the BJP leaders.
The SIT officials probing the case reportedly said that they collected evidence 'in the form of documents' of up to one lakh pages, which the investigation team is keeping confidential.
Meanwhile, SIT issued notice on November 16 to BL Santosh asking him to appear at the police headquarters in Hyderabad but the BJP leader is less likely to do so, according to reports.
The BJP circles maintained that the BJP leader had not received any notice.
In the midst of investigation, the BJP approached the court on November 18 saying that the SIT was issuing "arbitrary and illegal notices", which the court refused to accept while instructing police not to arrest the leader in the state.
As part of the investigation, a senior SIT officer Rema Rajeswari visited Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram, the report said.
The BJP leadership spurned the investigation calling it "a drama" by Chief Minister KCR.