Hyderabad: Jerusalem Mathaiah, one of the accused in ‘Cash for Note’ case, has revealed in the presence of the officials of the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday that former chief minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, had offered Rs.3 crore to Stephenson, TRS MLA, to vote for TDP candidate Vem Narendra Reddy in MLC elections held in 2015. Mathaiah told the ED that Chandrababu Naidu told him that he would pay Rs. 50 lakh as advance and the rest of the amount later. The then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh wanted Mathaiah to meet Stephenson to convince him to agree for the deal. He did so but Stephenson said he wanted to meet Revanth Reddy directly. It is a different matter that both Revanth Reddy and Vem Narender Reddy left the TDP and joined the Congress party later.
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The ED had accepted as evidence the video showing Revanth Reddy with a bundle of currency notes sitting before Stephenson at the latter’s house offering the money. “I have known Chandrababu Naidu for quite some time. I used to work for the TDP. I met Chandrababu Naidu several times earlier. At the time of Mahanadu in Hyderabad in 2015 Revanth Reddy has asked me to go the venue of the meeting to discuss something very important. I went to Himayat Sagar where Mahanadu was in progress. Jimmy Babu had taken me to Chandrababu Naidu. Revanth Reddy had discussed the plan in the presence of the then chief minister. The deal was to pay Stephenson Rs. 3 crore if he skipped voting. I was promised Rs. 50 lakh for falicitating the deal. I went to Stephenson. He wanted to meet Revanth Reddy directly. Revanth Reddy went to Stephenson house on instructions from Chandrababu Naidu and was caught red handed offering currency notes to the TRS MLA,” said Mathaiah.
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On the day after Revanth Reddy was arrested Mathaiah secretly went to the TDP office at Banjara Hills and met Lokesh who assured him that he would manage the ACB officials. Lokesh has asked Mathaiah to go to Vijayawada.
There was a writ petition filed by YSRCP MLA from Mangalagiri Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in Supreme Court asking to list Chandrababu Naidu as one of the accused in this case. A bench headed by Chief Justice Bobde heard the arguments by noted advocate Prashant Bhushan and posted the case to july 14 after the vacation. Meanwhile, Uday Singha, accused number 3, was arrested by ACB officials after his discharge petition was rejected by ACB special court.
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