Hyderabad, Apr 22 (PTI) The Telangana CID has registered a forgery case against BRS leader Chennamaneni Ramesh after the High Court declared him a German citizen in a ruling last year.

The case was registered against Ramesh on March 17 following a complaint by ruling Congress MLA Adi Srinivas. He was booked for forgery and under relevant sections of the IPC, Indian Passport Act 1967, The Foreigners Act 1946 and the Indian Citizenship Act 1955, police said on Tuesday.

The Telangana High Court had on December 9 last year imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Ramesh for suppressing and misrepresenting facts related to his German citizenship.

In the complaint to the CID, the Congress MLA Srinivas from Vemulawada, who had previously challenged Ramesh’s Indian citizenship, had accused him of deceiving the central government, state government and the voters of Vemulawada constituency and sought appropriate action against him.

Srinivas had alleged that Ramesh, without relinquishing his German citizenship, had obtained Indian citizenship in 2009 by misrepresenting his details regarding his stay in India. He had also challenged Ramesh’s election as MLA.

Ramesh has been involved in a prolonged legal battle over his citizenship. He had been elected to the assembly four times, including by-polls in 2009 and 2010.

Srinivas lost thrice to him before winning the 2023 election.

While dismissing Ramesh’s petition, the High Court upheld the Union Home Ministry’s 2019 order revoking his Indian citizenship.

The court observed that Ramesh, the former MLA from the Vemulawada constituency, is not ‘stateless’ as he holds a German passport.

The court had directed Ramesh to pay Rs 25 lakh out of the Rs 30 lakh fine to Srinivas and Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Authority of the High Court. Accordingly, his counsel on Monday handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to the counsel of Srinivas.

The complainant said after obtaining the judgment copy from the High Court and consulting his legal team, he filed the complaint before the CID.

Further investigation is on. PTI VVK SJR VVK ROH