Prohibition and Excise Police arrested former MLA and YSRC Ponnur Assembly candidate Raavi Venkata Ramana, in a pending case in Guntur on Wednesday. He was booked for illegally storing liquor in a private spinning mill last month.
The Excise police unearthed about 24,384 liquor bottles, worth about Rs.20 lakh packed in 466 cartons in G.K. Textiles at Boyapalem village, in Prathipadu mandal on April 28, 2014. They took two persons into custody and based on their confession police registered cases against Venkata Ramana and his partner Srinivas.
However, the former legislator approached the High Court which stayed his arrest till May 7. At 5 p.m. special teams of Prohibition and Excise department cordoned him at his office in Guntur and took him into custody.
Speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday, Guntur Excise Superintendent Yadlapalli Adi Narayana Murthy said the police arrested Raavi Venkata Ramana under Section. 34 (a), (illegal possession of liquor), in Boyapalem case.
“Already the Excise police arrested two persons in the case. The accused brought the liquor from the neighbouring State for allegedly distributing it to the voters. We will produce Venkata Ramana in court on Thursday,” said the Excise Superintendent.
Rasta RokoMild tension prevailed for a while at Dabbalapudi cross road, near Ponnur, when Venkata Ramana along with his followers staged a rasta roko on the main road alleging that the Excise police parties were following him.
Police mobilised forces at his office located on Government Women’s College road in the city, to prevent any untoward incidents. The situation is under control, said the police.
