Hyderabad:

Ex-BRS leader Chennamaneni Ramesh is a German citizen and used forged documents – presenting himself as an Indian national – to contest the Vemulawada Assembly seat, the Telangana High Court ruled Monday on a petition filed by the Congress’ Aadi Srinivas.

The court held Mr Ramesh had failed to provide documentation from the German embassy confirming he is no longer a citizen of that country. It imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh, of which Rs 25 lakh is payable to Mr Srinivas, against whom Mr Ramesh lost the November 2023 election.

In a celebratory post on X, Mr Srinivas said, “Backlash to former MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh… 30 lakhs fined to Ramesh who was elected MLA with false documents as a German citizen…”

హైకోర్టులో @BRSparty మాజీ ఎమ్మెల్యే చెన్నమనేని రమేష్కు ఎదురుదెబ్బ!

జర్మనీ పౌరుడిగా ఉంటూ తప్పుడు పత్రాలతో ఎమ్మెల్యేగా ఎన్నికైన రమేష్కు ₹30 లక్షల జరిమానా

పిటిషనర్ ఆది శ్రీనివాస్కు ₹25 లక్షలు, లీగల్ సర్వీస్ ఆథారిటీకి ₹5 లక్షలు చెల్లించాల్సిందిగా హైకోర్టు ఆదేశం. pic.twitter.com/shmXIHT5vk

— Future Of Vemulawada (@JaiAadiSrinivas) December 9, 2024

Mr Ramesh had earlier won the Vemulawada seat four times – in 2009 as part of the Telugu Desam Party and then thrice from 2010 to 2018, including the bypoll after he switched parties.

According to the law, non-Indian citizens cannot contest or vote in an election.

In 2020 the centre had informed the Telangana High Court that Mr Ramesh held a German passport – valid till 2023 – and that the Union Home Ministry had already issued an order revoking his Indian citizenship on grounds he concealed facts in his application.

READ | Telangana MLA Holds German Citizenship: Centre Tells High Court

The Home Ministry said, “His (Mr Ramesh’s) misrepresentation/concealment of fact misled the Government of India… Had he revealed he had not resided in India for one year before making the application, the competent authority in this ministry would not have granted citizenship…”

Mr Ramesh then filed a petition challenging the Home Ministry’s order.

He was then asked to file an affidavit disclosing, and enclosing, details related to the surrender of his German passport, and also proof he had given up his German citizenship.

In 2013 the then undivided Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the bypoll victory for this same reason. Mr Ramesh then approached the Supreme Court and wrangled a stay.

But, while the stay was in effect, he contested and won the 2014 and 2018 elections.

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Hyderabad:

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday upheld the order of a lower court which sentenced, to death, the convict in the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hyderabad.

The high court dismissed an appeal by the convict against the order of the Metropolitan Sessions Court in the 2017 case, agreeing with the lower court that it is the rarest of rare cases.

Dinesh Kumar Dharne, a migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh, had kidnapped, raped, and murdered the girl at Narsingi in December 2017. He had lured the girl with chocolates, took her to the bushes, and raped her. Fearing that she would inform her parents about it, he bludgeoned her to death.

The victim was the daughter of a couple who had migrated from Bihar for work.

Dharne, who was then aged 23, and the victim’s parents were working at the same construction site in Narsingi and knew each other well. When the girl was playing outside her hut, he took her to a nearby grocery shop on the pretext of buying her chocolates. On not finding their daughter for long, they questioned Dharne, who said he had dropped her back at the construction site and hadn’t seen her ever since.

The police took up the investigation after the victim’s parents lodged a complaint. During the questioning by police, Dharne confessed to the crime and was charged under Sections 363, 366, 376(A) and 302 of the IPC and the POCSO Act.

In February 2021, the Metropolitan Sessions Court in Ranga Reddy district had found him guilty and sentenced him to death. This was the first death sentence in the Cyberabad Commissionerate limits since its formation in 2003 and also was the first delivered by the Ranga Reddy district court in over three decades. Then Commissioner of Cyberabad V.C. Sajjanar had termed it a landmark judgement and said it was a result of a watertight case made against the accused.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)