Now, Kodela Seeks High Court Direction To Take Furniture Away?

Amaravati: Ex- Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao who is embroiled in Assembly furniture scam has filed a plea in the High Court seeking a direction to Legislature officials to take back the furniture that was in his "safe custody." The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday.

In what could be seen as a move to protect his reputation from further damage Kodela filed this petition to direct the officials to take back the furniture, which he had unauthorisedly taken.

In the petition, he claimed that he had written to Assembly officials in June to take away the furniture but no action was taken. The government submitted to the court that its arguments be heard. The hearing was postponed to Tuesday.

Meanwhile the Andhra Pradesh Police and Legislative Assembly officials on Monday recovered Assembly furniture allegedly diverted by Kodela Siva Prasad Rao.

Earlier Police, Revenue and Assembly officials recovered several items from Gowtam Hero showroom belonging to Sivaprasad Rao's son Sivarama Krishna in Guntur. The recovery was made a day after police booked Kodela and his son for allegedly diverting furniture belonging to the Assembly to unauthorised places. Assembly officials had identified the furniture at the showroom three days ago and it was late Saturday that they lodged a complaint with the police. A police official said 70 items were identified at the showroom and this number was higher than the list given provided by the Assembly officials.

A case under Indian Penal Code sections 409 (cheating by personating) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) was booked against father-son duo at Thullur police station in Guntur district on a complaint by M. Eswara Rao, an officer of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

Kodela recently admitted that while shifting Assembly furniture and equipment to Amaravati from Hyderabad in 2016, some of it was taken to his office-cum-residence in Sattenapalli. He said this was done for the safety and maintenance as the furniture could have got spoilt in the temporary Assembly building.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader also claimed that he wrote to Legislature Secretary asking him to take the furniture. He also offered to pay for the furniture.

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