In a pre-dawn swoop on Wednesday, the city police arrested TDP MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar at his residence at Duggirala of Denduluru mandal in West Godavari district in connection with a reported attack on the camp office of Union Minister for Textiles Kavuri Sambhasiva Rao. He was however released on bail after production in the district courts within a few hours after his arrest.
Mr. Prabhakar, representing Denduluru Assembly constituency in the district, was identified by the police as the prime accused in the case. The TDP leader was implicated in the case under sections 448 (trespassing), 427 (damage of property) and 506 r/w 34 (criminal intimidation) following a complaint lodged by Puli Sraramulu, the Minister’s Public Relations Officer. The MLA’s call to besiege the Minister’s camp office with a demand for the latter’s resignation in defence of unity of the State resulted in a rioting and fisticuffs between the Congress and the TDP workers on Tuesday. The arrest was marked by a demonstration in front of the police station that went on for a couple of hours under the banner of the TDP. The TDP former Minister Maganti Venkateswara Rao and city former MLA Ambika Krishna led the demonstration in support of their party MLA.
The protesters raised slogans against Mr. Sambhasiva Rao for allegedly ‘framing’ Mr. Prabhakar.
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Upon his release, the TDP MLA went in a procession from the district courts to the fire station centre where he took part in the Samaikyandhra agitation.