Big blow to Babu: ACB court orders re-investigation of Cash for Vote scam      

* Trouble for Chandrababu as private lab reports say the
voice in sting tapes was his.

* ACB court wants the re-investigation to be completed by
September 29.

* YSRCP hails court order.

In a comeuppance for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister
Chandrababu Naidu, the ACB court has asked for a re-investigation into the
infamous Cash for Votes scam. The court also set a deadline of September 29 to
complete the reinvestigation.

With this, the Cash for Votes scam, which remained in the
back-burner for over an year, will again be opened and investigated upon. The
ACB court gave this order in connection with the petition filed by YSRCP leader
and Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy. Reddy furnished the forensic report
from a private laboratory that showed the voice-sample in the telephonic
conversation with TRS Anglo-Indian MLA Stephenson was that of Chandrababu
Naidu. Based on this, the court ordered re-investigation of the case.

The Opposition YSRCP has all along been accusing Chandrababu of mortgaging the interests of Andhra Pradesh to wriggle out of the case.

Last year, during the council elections, the TDP, which did
not have adquate numbers to get its candidate elected, tried to bribe TRS MLCs.
As part of the plan, Anglo-Indian MLA Elvys Stephenson was approached. TDP MLA
Revanth Reddy approached with an offer to pay several crore and o May 30 last
year, Revanth Reddy and party functionary Sebastian went to Stephenson’s house
and paid him Rs 50 lakh. This was caught in a sting operation. Later,
Chandrababu spoke to Stephenson to goad him to support the TDP candidate.
However, after some belligerent posturing Chandrababu shifted his base to
Vijayawada post-haste. Later, there have been allegations that Chandrababu
colluded with the TRS to go slow on the case. The Opposition YSRCP has all
along been accusing Chandrababu of mortgaging the interests of Andhra Pradesh
to wriggle out of the case.

Advocate Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy argued on behalf of
Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy.