Stephenson to give statement before judge

HYDERABAD: Nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson has reportedly told ACB sleuths that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu spoke to him over phone a couple of days before TDP legislator Revanth Reddy was caught in a sting operation.
The admission of Stephenson, as claimed by sleuths, could be a shot in the arm for ACB as Stephenson did not mention Naidu in his complaint to the investigating agency at 3 pm on May 28."Naidu's name did not figure in Stephenson's complaint to us because the telephone call from the AP chief minister to the nominated MLA took place after the complaint and before the sting operation that took place at around 5 pm on May 31," ACB sources said.
In the sting operation, ACB trapped Revanth Reddy along with two others, Bishop Harry Sebastian and Rudra Uday Simha at Stephenson's family friend's flat in Vijayapuri Colony when they allegedly offered Rs 50 lakh as bribe to he latter to vote in favour of the TDP candidate in the MLC elections with the promise of giving him Rs 4.5 crore later.
It was during these three days that Revanth personally met Stephenson to discuss the `deal' for the first time at the latter's residence in Bhoiguda. On the second occasion when Revanth met Stephenson to talk about the `deal', the TDP MLA was nabbed.
Subsequent to the arrest, Stephenson in his statement before ACB officials claimed that Naidu also spoke to him.While the evidence of the dealing with Revanth and his associates was recorded by Stephenson in the two Iphones provided to him by ACB, the conversation with Naidu took place in his personal phone. ACB sleuths are supposed to submit the evidence, including the two IPhones in which audio visuals of Revanth and two other accused allegedly offering bribe to Stephenson have been recorded along with three Sony audio recorders containing the audio record of the same conversation as well as the personal phone of Stephenson before the ACB court on Saturday.
Armed with what they called possible evidence of Naidu's involvement in the note-for-vote case, ACB sleuths now want to get a statement of Stephenson recorded before a first class magistrate. “Either on Saturday or the next working day of the court, we will to file a petition asking the court to record the statement of the complainant as per section 164 of the CrPC,“ said an ACB source. And confession before a first class magistrate is admissible in court as evidence.
The ACB is also building up its case to prove that what they carried out was a trap case and that not a sting operation conducted by the media. “Audio or visuals recorded either in cell phones of the complainant or external devices used by ACB in trap cases are admissible in court. Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) later gives a report on the authenticity of the recordings by checking if the content was edited or modified in any other manner.Further, the voice samples collected from the accused, if given voluntarily, will be matched with the voice on tapes. If the accused refuse to give samples, records of their public speeches or in case of Revanth, his assembly speech records, can be used for matching test,“ said an ACB official.
When TOI contacted Stephenson and asked him if Chandrababu Naidu spoke to him ahead of the MLC elections, the MLA said, “I cannot say that at this stage."
However, he said that he will give a statement to the court.