In yet another setback for the Congress, party MP Renuka Chowdhury has been booked for cheating and extracting money from an aspiring election candidate.
According to NDTV, 60-year-old Chowdhury has been accused of accepting a bribe of Rs. 1.10 crore from Ramjee Naik, a local Congress and tribal leader in Telangana, on the pretext of giving him a ticket to contest for the state elections last year.
However, Naik alleged that he was duped and was not given any Congress ticket to contest in the elections.
Following the orders of Hyderabad High court, the Telangana police have filed a case of cheating and also filed another one under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act against the Congress MP after a complaint was registered by Naik's wife.
Termed the allegations "bizarre", Chowdhury said, "The high court is following a process. I will fight it legally."
In her complaint, Naik's wife B Kalavati said that her husband lost his life due to huge debts incurred as a result of paying the huge sum to Chowdhury. She reiterated that Chowdhury had promised her husband the Wyra assembly seat in return for the money.
As per the FIR, the Congress MP accepted the bribe on 30 May, 2013, the time which Andhra Pradesh was not bifurcated. The performance of the Congress party was not remarkable at that time in the state assembly elections. The party had won merely 18 seats out of 119 seats.
