A high drama was witnessed at Suryaraopet police station on Thursday following the arrest of Telugu Desam Party leader Chalasani Venkateswara Rao (Pandu) in the early hours of the day, in connection with a case of alleged threatening of a person registered a month ago.
The case was registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 447 (punishment for criminal trespass) of IPC.
As Venkateswara Rao unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Assembly elections from Penamaluru constituency against Animal Husbandry Minister K. Parthasarathy, the issue took a political turn with TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, former MP Gadde Rammohan, city leader Bonda Umamaheswara Rao and others reaching the police station and alleging that it was the handiwork of the Minister and the ruling Congress.
They particularly objected to the manner in which Venkateswara Rao was arrested past midnight.
The police said the case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by a cardiologist that Venkateswara Rao had threatened him in a property dispute case. But the police acted on the case and arrested him only after Commissioner of Police P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, during a review of pending cases in each police station, sought an explanation as to why no arrests were made in the case.
Mr. Anjaneyulu told reporters that there was no political dimension to the case and he ordered action only as a routine direction.
As the Commissioner refused to grant bail in the station, Venkateswara Rao obtained it from the Third Metropolitan Sessions court.
PCC secretary Kolanukonda Sivaji and Congress city president Pyla Sominaidu in a statement condemned the charges made by Mr. Umamaheswara Rao against Mr. Parthasarathy. They said it was ridiculous for the MLA to say that Mr. Parthasarathy holding a responsible post in the Government stooped to the level of inciting the police to take Venkateswara Rao into custody.
Mr. Sivaji alleged that the TDP leader was arrested because he threatened a commissioner appointed by a court to find out details in a dispute between a father and son.
The TDP was trying to project one of the persons involved in the dispute as a freedom-fighter to gain sympathy of the public.
Another motive of the TDP was to denigrate Mr. Anjaneyulu as he was not succumbing to any of their pressures, he said.
