In a sequence reminiscent of the planning in a cerebral heist film, Vijayawada ex-MP Lagadapati Rajagopal escaped right from the middle of a heavy police ring.
In a sequence reminiscent of the planning in a cerebral heist film, Vijayawada ex-MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, whose fast-to-death for a united AP enters its 8th day today, escaped right from the middle of a heavy police ring, in a dramatic turn of events last night.
Lagadapati, who was about to be shifted from the Government General Hospital in Vijayawada to the NRI Hospital in Guntur, got into a car at 10:30pm as the police were busy trying to control the media and his supporters around the place, and just dashed. And at 100kmph, he was quite the speed demon.
The cops gave chase on the Eluru highway, but the 6 cars accompanying Lagadapati went off in different directions shortly, leaving the police confused on which car to follow.
Lagadapati's car was being driven by his advocate friend Goutham Reddy, and had his gunman in it, too. But the gunman was made to get off midway.
The police say that Lagadapati almost got caught 3 times in the getaway, but managed to give the slip each time. He eventually moved into an ambulance. Nobody is sure whether he was headed for Visakhapatnam or Hyderabad.
His followers and family are quite disturbed ...and irate at the cops, who they now suspect have Lagadapati under custody somewhere. A habeas corpus is about to be filed in the A P High Court.
The police have said that this appeared pre-planned. There is high tension in Vijayawada and other parts of Andhra over Lagadapati's disappearance, and his followers are getting increasingly restless.
The Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy is not amused, either. As one of only 2 persons who can blast the DGP, she apparently did it with a vengeance, in an emergency meeting she called in the wee hours.
In an interview just before his, ahem, escapade, Lagadapati last night had accused the officials and doctors of high-handedness with him, and promised that this was no half-baked fast, and that he would see it through, right till the end.
However, the police are on a fast-breaking spree all over the state, and this is the reason that the ex-MP had to flee, to protect his right to starve.