Hyderabad: Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday, March 11, directed public prosecutor Palle Nageswara Rao to file the version of police authorities in the case filed against chief minister A Revanth Reddy in March 2020 for allegedly flying a drone camera at Miyakhangadda area of Narsingi that was capturing the images of Swaroop cricket ground and the nearby buildings.
The judge posted the case to March 19 for further hearing.
Drone flown over Janwada farmhouse
Revanth was an MP then and also leading the opposition Congress at that time and there was huge publicity that he captured the images of the Janwada farmhouse, allegedly belonging to then minister KT Rama Rao (KTR).
Revanth was arrested in the case on the grounds that his action amounted to invasion of privacy of individuals and was sent to jail.
Revanth later filed a plea urging the court to quash the petition.
When this plea came up for hearing, the public prosecutor said that the complainant in this case was a constable from the Narsingi police station.
A glance at the four-line complaint simply states that Revanth’s drone was flown above the cricket ground, with no mention of any farmhouse issue, let alone the name of KTR or whether it belongs to him, Nageswar said. “Moreover, there is a GO that clearly says that this area is not a prohibited area,” he added.
The judge directed him to furnish a copy of the GO and also to produce the statements of the witnesses in the case.
Appearing for Revanth Reddy, senior counsel T Niranjan Reddy said that though none of the ingredients of the sections in the FIR were applicable, the then govt sent him to jail for 20 days, after which he came out on bail.
IPC Sections 188, 287, 109, 201, 120B and Sec 11A read with Sec 5 of the Aircraft Act 1934 were slapped against him though they do not apply to this case, he said.
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