Hyderabad: The cash-for-vote scandal, which has created political turmoil in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday took a twist with the Hyderabad High Court granting conditional bail to accused Telugu Desam lawmaker A. Revanth Reddy.

The court rejected a plea by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) against granting the MLA bail on the grounds that his release may lead to tampering with evidence.

Justice Raja Elango also granted bail to the other two accused — Harry Sebastian and Uday Simha.

The court asked Revanth Reddy and his two aides to furnish a personal bond of Rs500,000 (Dh28,879) each and two personal sureties of similar amounts each.

The other conditions imposed on Revanth Reddy include surrendering his passport to the court, not going outside Hyderabad or his constituency Kodangla in Mahbubnagar district, not making any public comments on the case and appearing before ACB for questioning whenever asked.

Revanth Reddy, the deputy leader of Telugu Desam in the Telangana state assembly and his two associates were arrested by Telangana ACB on May 31 when they allegedly tried to pay a bribe of Rs5 million to a nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson to secure his vote for the TDP candidate in Legislative Council elections.

ACB had laid a trap after Stephenson lodged a complaint that the TDP leaders were trying to lure him by offering him a bribe of Rs50 million. ACB said that the nominated MLA was promised the remaining amount after the polling.

In its last ditch effort to prevent Revanth Reddy’s release on bail, the ACB on Tuesday filed another affidavit opposing the bail. Arguing on behalf of the ACB, Telangana Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy said the accused were powerful enough to tamper with the proof if they were set free. He said that ACB was yet to find out that sources of the money used for bribing the MLA.

After hearing the arguments of both the sides Justice Elango ordered the release of the accused on conditional bail.

As the news spread Telugu Desam workers and supporters of Revanth Reddy broke in to celebrations by distributing sweets and bursting crackers. A large number of supporters gathered at the Charalapally Central jail shouting slogans in support of Revanth Reddy.

Meanwhile Anti Corruption Bureau was planning to challenge the High Court orders in the Supreme Court. ACB Director General A K Khan met the ailing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and briefed him about the High Court order and the next plan of action. ACB additional director Ramachandra Rao said that the petitioned will be filed in the Supreme Court after getting the copy of the full judgment.

The case over the last one month created a major political upheaval in the two neighboring states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While Telangana Rashtra Samiti government alleged that bribing of the MLA was part of a deeper conspiracy to topple the state government and create political instability, Andhra Pradesh government alleged that Telangana was resorting to tapping the phones of its Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and many other leaders.

The issue took a sensational turn when some TV channels in Hyderabad telecast the alleged the audio tape of alleged telephonic conversation between Chandrababu Naidu and Elvis Stephenson.

Meanwhile Telugu Desam party hailed the High Court verdict and demanded that the Telangana government should withdraw the case against Revanth Reddy. “Revanth Reddy got the bail because justice is on our side”, said E Dayakar Rao, TDP’s floor leader in state assembly. He urged the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to tender an apology to Revanth Reddy and withdraw the case.