HC sets up Division Bench to deal with MP’s matter

Raghu Ramakrishna Raju’s advocate says he was manhandled in CID custody

May 15, 2021 11:23 pm | Updated 11:23 pm IST - VIJAYAWADA/GUNTUR

Raghu Ramkrishna Raju being produced at a court in Guntur on Saturday.

Raghu Ramkrishna Raju being produced at a court in Guntur on Saturday.

Within hours of the dismissal of the bail plea of Member of Parliament from Narasapuram K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, the Andhra Pradesh High Court set up a special Division Bench comprising Justices C. Praveen Kumar and K. Lalitha Kumari by treating a letter by the MP’s advocate B. Adinarayana, wherein he complained that the MP was manhandled during the CID custody, as a habeas corpus petition.

Taking cognisance of the letter, in which Mr. Adinarayana Rao sought the constitution of a Division Bench citing paucity of time to file a formal petition for staying the single judge’s order and requested to look into his complaint that the MP was beaten up in spite of his frail health, the court referred his contention to the medical board of the Government General Hospital in Guntur and ordered that a report be submitted by Sunday (May 16) morning.

In CID custody

Meanwhile, the VI Additional Junior Civil Judge in Guntur before whom the MP was produced after Justice K. Suresh Reddy of the High Court struck down his bail petition, granted his custody to the CID for 14 days.

In the morning, Justice Suresh Reddy rejected the MP’s bail plea and said he was at liberty to approach the sessions court, notwithstanding Mr. Adinarayana Rao’s insistence that the bail petition should be admitted in view of the right to protection of life and personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution and the urgency arising from the MP’s health condition.

After his bail plea was turned down, Mr. Raju was produced before the Sixth Additional Junior Civil Judge Court in Guntur amid tight security. On being told that the MP was roughed up in custody, the court directed that a medical committee be constituted and a report submitted in right earnest.

The MP’s advocates requested permission to get him treated at Ramesh Hospital.

Earlier, the CID police quizzed Mr. Raju about the intentions behind his hate speeches aired in select media channels and the possible assistance provided to him to air those speeches.

Additional DG (CID) P.V Sunil Kumar questioned Mr. Raju for over two hours on Friday night and tried to elicit key information about the MP’s speeches. The police are believed to have seized some key electronic evidence.

On Friday, the MP was arrested from his residence in Hyderabad and was brought to the CID office in Guntur. The CID police have named Mr. Raju and TV5 and ABN Channels as the accused in the case registered under Sections.124-A, 153 (A) and 505 read with 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the FIR, the CID said an inquiry into the hate speeches of Mr. Raju in various media channels and social media channels found that Mr. Raju did not restrict himself to fair criticism of the government, but made every attempt to create hatred, contempt and disaffection towards the government, through words and also through visual gestures of face and hands to provoke his followers to take up violence. The speeches were thus seditious in nature, the CID claimed.

The FIR also said Mr. Raju targeted communities and tried to stoke hatred against them by trying to portray that the government was favouring two particular communities.

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