Supreme Court dismisses plea against quashing case against one accused in 2015 cash for vote scam

A bench upheld the HC's order and rejected the special leave petitions filed by Telangana government and then MLA Elvis Stephenson.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed pleas against the Telangana High Court's order quashing criminal proceedings against Jerusalem Mathai, one of the accused in 2015 cash for vote scam.

A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran upheld the HC's order and rejected the special leave petitions filed by Telangana government and then MLA Elvis Stephenson.

The court noted the accused was not present on the occasion when the transaction is alleged to have occurred. 

Noting the discrepancy, the court pointed out the FIR indicated that the information was received on May 28, 2015 at 15:00 hours but the general diary reference showed the entry made as on May 31, 2015 at 23:00 hours. The FIR was also dated May 31, 2015.

It was alleged then MLA Elvis Stephenson was offered a bribe to vote in favour of a TDP candidate. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, then a member of the TDP, is one of the accused in the case.

The bench said it would not speak on the incident that occurred on May 31, 2015 since the persons allegedly involved in the said incident were not before it.   

"However, we cannot but notice that there is nothing to connect A4 to the crime... We find absolutely no reason to interfere with the order of the High Court and dismiss the Special Leave Petitions,'' the bench said.  

It was contended by the state government that the High Court erred by conducting a mini trial in the quashing proceedings, which has been deprecated by this court on many occasions. 

There was a cognizable offence made out in the FIR, there were also recordings made, and the bribe amounts recovered, in which event, there should not have been an order of quashing at such a preliminary stage.   

The respondent's counsel submitted, there was absolutely no material against him.  

The court said it is true that the Single Judge of the High Court has written an order running into pages, quoting various decisions and extracts made from them. Some of the decisions quoted were on faulty investigation which need not have been referred to.

"For reason, only of brevity having not been employed, we cannot set aside an order which though lengthy, has cited justifiable reasons to quash the proceedings," the bench said.

The court emphasised, brevity at times is a virtue but often in legalese it is faulted as levity and in adjudicatory orders, projected as non-application of mind. 

"However, we are not convinced that there was a mini trial conducted or that there was no justifiable reason to quash the complaint,'' the bench said.  

The court noted Stephenson made a complaint against the respondent and two others on May 28, 2015. 

The complaint was addressed to the Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Hyderabad, Telangana. But no FIR was registered on that date. 

It was alleged that the respondent had offered the complainant Rs 2 crores and a ticket to leave the country or vote in the elections to the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) scheduled on June 01, 2015 in favour of a particular party.

The second paragraph indicated that a higher offer of Rs 5 crores was made for the identical conduct of abstaining from the voting or to vote in a particular manner. 

It was also alleged that the person who made the second offer specified that the transactions would be carried out by another. 

"There was no indication in the complaint as to when such an offer was made and nothing stated as to the response made by the complainant. It was also not alleged that the two instances were in any way connected," the bench said.