A request for gunmen by an Independent candidate from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency was rejected by the Telangana High Court on Wednesday.
Justice P. Naveen Rao dismissed the writ petition of the contestant K. Venkat Narayana who apprehended threat to his life claiming that he had unearthed a couple of scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees. The petitioner wanted a direction to the Election Commission of India and the police department to provide him armed security guards during the campaign period.
Stating that he was a whistle-blower, Mr. Narayana maintained that his inputs resulted in unearthing frauds and arrests of many persons. It also helped the government save public money and ensured not a dent was made to the State ex-chequer, he said.
Opposing his plea, the Special Government Pleader Sharath Kumar argued that the threat perception to a person, for providing security, has to be assessed by a competent authority. The application presented by the petitioner to the Director General of Police was forwarded to the Intelligence IGP for examination .
It would take some time for the Intelligence officials to assess the security needs of the petitioner. He presented to the court that the petitioner made similar application in 2016 as well and the officials concerned then concluded that he did not have any threat to his life. The petitioner’s counsel submitted to the court that Mr. Narayana brought to fore the scam of vehicle spare parts in GHMC. His efforts eventually ended in registration of criminal cases and arrest of several accused by Hyderabad Central Crime Station, the lawyer told the court.
