Pastor Jerusalem Mathaiah, a key witness in the infamous cash-for-vote case of 2015, involving present Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, was on Friday granted relief from the Supreme Court.
A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai dismissed the Telangana government’s petition challenging the state high court order quashing the FIR against Mathaiah, in which he was named accused no. 4.
The case dates back to 2016, when an FIR was registered against Mathaiah in connection with the alleged bribery scandal.
Although the high court later quashed the case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed a petition in the Supreme Court on July 6, 2016, contesting the order.
The Supreme Court bench upheld the high court’s earlier decision, rejecting the plea filed by the former BRS government. This decision has come as a major relief to Mathaiah.
Mathaiah told the investigating officials that Chandrababu Naidu had hatched the conspiracy to lure nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to vote for the TDP-BJP candidate in the MLC elections in June 2015.
He also said Revanth Reddy and Naidu had told him to lure Stephenson by offering a bribe of Rs 5 crore.
He said he was offered Rs 50 lakh as goodwill amount for convincing Stephenson to cross vote in favour of TDP candidate Vem Narender Reddy.
Mathaiah admitted that he had spoken to Stephenson, who wanted a meeting with Naidu or Revanth Reddy.
“Naidu also spoke to Stephenson from his mobile. They were preparing to pay the advance of Rs 50 lakh. On May 31, when Revanth was offering Rs 50 lakh to Stephenson, the ACB entered the scene and caught him red-handed,” the pastor said.
