Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Gellu Srinivas Yadav was arrested by Jubilee Hills police on Saturday, June 28, in connection with the vandalism at MAHAA TV office.
A suo motu case is booked against leader of opposition in the Legislative Council S Madhusudhana Chary and former MLA Balka Suman and other leaders.
Around 20 leaders and activists of the BRS and its student wing BRSV, including Srinivas Yadav, were arrested by the Jubilee Hills police in connection with the attack on the Mahaa News channel office. The incident followed the channel’s broadcast of allegedly derogatory content against former Chief Minister and BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao and BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
On Sunday, police conducted searches at Srinivas Yadav’s residence in the new MLA quarters amid tight security. However, members of the BRS legal cell and advocates representing Srinivas Yadav raised objections, citing various provisions under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
MAHAA TV office in Jubilee Hills was attacked by the party workers, alleging that the news channel was spreading fake news against its chief and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), party’s working president and senior leader KT Rama Rao (KTR) and other family members, with regard to the phone tapping case.
Raising slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’, BRS workers tried to enter the office building and also attacked an employee who tried to stop them. They damaged properties, pelted stones at the office and damaged cars parked outside.
Violation of fundamental rights: BRS
The pink party has strongly condemned Srinivas’s arrest and called it as a gross violation of Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Party spokesperson RS Praveen Rao lashed out at the Congress government, stating it was the Congress that began tapping phones of Opposition parties, in the first place.
“Who will investigate this phone tapping? The police officials? Or the Congress ministers and Youth Congress leaders sitting in Gandhi Bhavan? What is true… what is false… hold a press meet at the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate and inform the public,” Rao said in a media briefing on Sunday.
In a letter to Jubilee Hills police station house officer (SHO), BRS called it an “and illegal and arbitary arrest.”
“No reasons were provided for the arrest. There is no mention of the arrest in the official police portal, clearly failing to follow the guidelines on arrest issued by the Supreme Court. This action is not only a violation of constitutional safeguards but also against the provisions of the Indian Citizen Security Code (BNSS) Act which mandates due transparency in criminal proceedings,” Srinivas’s advocate J Laxman released a statement on Sunday.
BRS sends notice alleging defamation to MAHAA TV
BRS’ legal cell has sent notices to the management of MAHAA TV, accusing the media outlet for running a smear campaign on the channel’s YouTube account using thumbnails on the phone-tapping case.
In a statement to media on Saturday, BRS has alleged that the management of the channel, under the guise of journalism, was launching personal attacks and spitting venom against the party leadership.
Senior police officials including a former intelligence head and other senior officials have been charged and are currently facing a probe into their role in tapping more than 600 phone numbers of politicians, judges, journalists, business persons among others, during the previous BRS government before the 2023 assembly elections.
MAHAA TV was founded by journalist I Venkat Rao, who is a former editor of the well-known Telugu newspaper Andhra Jyothi.
More details are awaited
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