‘Nariyal paani le aiye’: Code to call cops on TRS ‘poachers’

HYDERABAD: An innocuous request to sate their thirst with a south India staple — “Nariyal paani le aiye (bring coconut water)” — was the secret code that four TRS legislators used to bring a team of cops to the Moinabad farmhouse where they had arranged to meet the three men accused of trying to bribe them into defecting to BJP, police said on Friday.

The disclosure coincided with two audio clips of purported conversations between the suspects and TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy going viral. In one of the clips, a voice presumed to be that of accused Ramachandra Bharathi agrees to pay Rs 100 crore to Rohith and make nominal “payoffs” to other MLAs. He is allegedly heard asking the MLAs to join BJP before the November 3 Munugode bypoll in Telangana. TOI couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the tapes.

Bharathi also allegedly says that “CM KCR will dissolve the assembly within a month if Rohith resigns, and the TRS government will collapse”. He names BJP national general secretary BL Santosh and one ‘Tushar’, whose identity is still to be verified.

BJP national general secretary and former minister D K Aruna said a mere mention of the names of party functionaries in the audio clips couldn’t be considered proof of their involvement. He also claimed the three accused weren’t BJP members.

In the remand plea that was rejected by a special anti-corruption bureau court late Thursday, the police had mentioned installing three spy cameras in the hall at the farmhouse owned by Rohith. The police said they gave a voice recorder to Rohith to record the conversation with the accused. The other three MLAs present at the farmhouse were Guvvala Balaraju, Rega Kantha Rao and B Harshavardhan Reddy.

The police also attached screenshots of the purported phone chat between Bharati and two names saved as “Sunil Kumar Bansal BJP” and “Santosh BJP”.

"Hari aum namasthe, Bansal Ji. Need to talk with you important about Telangana. Please suggest some time where I can discuss (sic)," states the transcript of a purported chat between Bharati and Bansal.

Aother message between one of the accused and "Santosh BJP" goes, "Total sitting 25 members are ready to join us, they are all in my circle only, without mistake plan is to join 40 members ASAP (sic)."


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.