The police arrested four reporters, who were accused of abetting suicide attempt by a trader here on Tuesday. They were sent to 14 days of judicial remand at Jangaon sub jail.
The accused, include Jala Ramesh, Ch. Srikanth, H. Madhava Rao and M. Bhaskar. The reporters allegedly blackmailed a trader named Gajji Krishna Murthy to pay a ransom of Rs.10 lakh threatening to expose irregularities which he reportedly committed in his business.
The trader attempted suicide by consuming pesticide at his residence last Thursday. His family members rushed him to local hospital and he was later shifted to the Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad where he was undergoing treatment.
The local traders expressed solidarity to Krishna Murthy and demanded the police to book cases against the reporters and organised protests in support of their demand.
On Tuesday, the traders in Jangaon called for a bandh and downed shutters. They took out a protest rally from Jangaon railway station to the Revenue Divisional Office and submitted a memorandum to RDO Venkat Reddy seeking punishment for the accused.
The traders also burnt an effigy of Ramesh, whom the police had shown as A1 accused in the case. The Jangaon police booked cases against the reporters under the IPC sections 387, 506 and 306 read with 116.
Meanwhile, the former TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah visited Apollo Hospital and consoled Krishna Murthy.
