Karimnagar: After a 15-year battle, Congress MLA AADI Srinivas won his victory on Monday, and on Monday received a draft Rs 2.5 lakh draft of former MLA Chennamani Ramesh, involving the latter’s Indian citizenship.
Ramesh paid Srinivas Rs 2.5 lakh to comply with the order issued by the Telangana High Court on 9 December 2024. The court imposed a total fine of Rs 3 million on Ramesh, finding that he misled the judiciary and the government about his German citizenship and filed his false documents to retain his Indian identity.
Of the amount imposed, Srinivas should pay Rs 2.5 lakh, who initiated a citizenship challenge in 2009, paying Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Committee of the High Court within 30 days of the judgment.
Although Ramesh paid Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Commission, he delayed handing over the draft demand of Rs 2.5 lakh to Srinivas. Congressional MLA refuses to accept the delayed draft due to an upcoming date. Ramesh then filed a new petition asking for permission to issue a new draft, which the High Court allowed after both parties received consent.
The fresh Rs 25 lakh draft was handed over to the lawyers of Srinivas in the presence of advocates V. Rohith Rao and V. Ravikiran Rao.
Judge Vijay Sen Reddy upheld the central government’s 2019 cancellation of Ramesh’s Indian citizenship in December, declaring that he had misrepresented his nationality for more than 15 years. Legal experts describe the Rs 3 million fine as unprecedented in cases related to citizens.
Despite serving four terms as MLA, Ramesh did not appeal the court’s ruling, which was widely interpreted as a recognition of misconduct.
Meanwhile, Srinivas requested a bulletin notice declaring Ramesh’s MLA term invalid from 2009 to 2023. He also called for the withdrawal of government benefits granted to Ramesh during this period, initiate criminal proceedings for fraud, and apology to Vemulawada’s public apology.
