3 Arrested, Bandi Sanjay Summoned For "Insulting" KCR

Three State BJP leaders - Jitta Balakrishna Reddy, Rani Rudrama and Daruvu Yellanna alias Boddu Yellanna - were arrested and State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar was slapped with a notice under Section 41-(A) (1) CrPC by the Hayathnagar police for allegedly organising an event on the occasion of Telangana Formation Day on June 2 where Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was insulted.

While A-1 Bandi Sanjay was issued the notice dated June 12 by the Hayathnagar police, A-2 Jitta Balakrishna Reddy was arrested on June 10 and produced before the court concerned for judicial custody, and is out on bail. A-3 Rani Rudrama and A-4 Dharuvu Yellanna were arrested today.

Police said that the above had misused the dais and enacted a skit which was effectively a hate speech, insulting the Chief Minister.

The organisers had allegedly portrayed the Chief Minister as a drunkard and as deceiving the public in the implementation of different schemes.

On viewing the skit, complainant Y Sathish Reddy, the TRS social media convenor, lodged a complaint along with video footage of the skit with the Hayathnagar police alleging defamation of the government and the Chief Minister to mislead the people and provoke hatred and unrest.

Based on the written complaint, after examination of the video content, it was established that Bandi, and the organisers Jitta Balakrishna Reddy, Rani Rudrama and Daruvu Yellanna and their team had personally attacked a democratically elected person holding the constitutional post of the Chief Minister of Telangana.

A case was registered in the Hayathnagar police station against Bandi and the three others under various penal sections for insulting persons to cause distress, and to offend individuals on the basis of their association with a particular group.