Telangana MLA poaching: Four accused move Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail; gets interim protection till December 5

Four persons, who are allegedly accused in the Telangana horse trading case dubbed Operation Lotus, have approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail..The bail applications were moved by one Manilal KN and three other persons who are all employees of the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) - Coordinator M Sarath Mohan, Clinical Co-ordinator Vimal Vijayan and Administrative Executive K Manoj Chandran.While considering their pleas, Justice K Babu noted that they have not yet been arrayed as accused in the crime registered by the Telangana Police. He agreed to hear the pleas on Monday, December 5 and ordered that the petitioners not be arrested until then. .The three AIMS employees stated that they are apprehending arrest in a crime registered in Moinabad Police Station, Telangana. The crime was originally registered alleging commission of offences such as criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code, as well as offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, against three persons linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Through some connections, one Dr Jaggu Kottilil of AIMS, Kochi was also implicated in the case. The AIMS employees who have moved the Court worked under him.The bail applicants were interrogated by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) constituted by the Government of Telangana, allegedly for two whole days, in order to trace the whereabouts of Dr Kottilil..The plea stated that the investigating officers were very threatening. On November 16, the applicants were served notices under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to appear at the SIT headquarters in Hyderabad, within three days. Since the time provided was very short and the travel distance was quite a lot, they appeared for the interrogation at the Kochi camp. Subsequently, they were served with Section 41(A) CrPC notices to appear at Hyderabad by November 28. The petitioners contended that they are only employees of the hospital where the doctor in question worked at, and that they have no connection to the politics of the State of Telangana in any manner.However, since they apprehended arrest, they approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail..The political drama that erupted in the State of Telangana in October 2021, dubbed Operation Lotus, involved the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Party and the opposition BJP hurling a laundry list of allegations against each other, mostly about attempts by the latter to poach TRS MLAs.Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao accused the BJP of engaging in horse trading by offering TRS MLAs ₹100 crore to switch to the BJP.The BJP has maintained that the TRS Party fabricated all its allegations to deflect attention from some upcoming polls.Chief Minister Rao had also alleged that Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) leader from Kerala, Thushar Vellappally, was involved in Operation Lotus.