Amid high drama former Telugu Desam Party Minister and senior leader Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu was taken into custody by officials from AP CID from his house in Narsipatnam in Anakapalli district, in the early hours of Thursday. His youngest son Ch. Rajesh, who is a local councillor representing the TDP, was also taken into custody.
But the incident culminated in an anti-climax for the officials concerned, as the Judge of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Visakhapatnam granted a bail to Mr. Ayyanna and his son and asked the AP CID to issue notice under 41 A Cr.P.C.
Immediately, as the word spread that a bail had been granted to Mr. Ayyanna, celebrations broke out in his home town Narsipatnam and at all TDP offices in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli district. TDP leaders and Padmavati, wife of Mr. Ayyanna, welcomed the court’s order and said that ‘justice has prevailed’.
This was the third time that the Andhra Pradesh police had tried to take the former TDP Minister into custody, having failed on two earlier occasions.
But on Thursday morning, based on concrete information that the former Minister was present at home, the AP CID team along with local police reached his home around 2.30 a.m., and picked him and his son, and had initially brought them to the AP CID office in Arilova in Visakhapatnam city.
He was later sent for medical examination at a Community Health Centre (CHC) at Simhachalam and brought back to the office. In the evening he was produced before the Judge of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
The senior TDP leader was taken into custody for alleged encroachment of land and forgery of documents. The police have reportedly registered cases under various Sections of the IPC for forgery such as 464,467,471 and 474, a few of which are non-bailable sections, according to a police officer.
In June this year, the municipal officials of Narsipatnam reportedly issued a notice alleging that the former Minister had grabbed 2 cents of land belonging to the Irrigation Department and had demolished the boundary wall using an earthmover.
Threat to life
Earlier, in the day upon coming to know about the incident, a large number of Mr. Ayyanna’s supporters reached his house and entered into a heated argument with the personnel and raised slogans against the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
Speaking to the media, Ms. Padmavati questioned the need to take them into custody in the early hours, as if they were thieves. The YSRCP government had been ‘torturing our family’ since the last three years, she alleged. She also said that Mr. Ayyanna and Mr. Rajesh faced a threat to their lives.
Ms. Padmavati said that before taking Mr. Patrudu into custody, the police had barricaded all roads leading to their house and about 200 policemen had entered their house by scaling the boundary walls, holding cutters and other equipment to break the doors of the house.
“Many of the policemen had also come drunk when women and my grandchildren were present at home and they also broke some window panes, which has scared the children and womenfolk. Mr. Patrudu was not allowed to speak or raise any query and was shoved into the waiting police jeeps, while he was still in his night clothes and without slippers. My son, who is right now in ‘Ayyappa deeksha’ was also not allowed to finish his puja,” she alleged.
Leaders arrested
Many senior party leaders, including Visakhapatnam East MLA V. Ramakrishna Babu, former MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao and Pranav Gopal, president of TNSF, and others who reached the CID office in the morning, were taken under preventive custody and shifted to different police stations.
“We had only come to check on his health at the office. We were not allowed to meet him and instead we were taken into custody,” said TDP’s Visakhapatnam Urban Constituency president Palla Srinivasa Rao.
“Taking a senior leader from the opposition party into custody over a trivial and unproven allegation is draconian. This shows that the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government has no respect for democracy and the law of the land,” he said.
Condemning the incident, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu said that the State government was trying to stifle the voice of the Opposition by such intimidating tactics. “We will continue to protest and make this an election issue,” he said.
Earlier, TDP leaders from Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam regions including TDP State president K. Atchannaidu, Kala Venkat Rao and others condemned the arrest of Ayyanna Patrudu.
Bandh at Narsipatnam
All along the day, a tense situation prevailed in Narsipatnam, as TDP supporters called for a bandh. Almost all shops and establishments remained closed throughout the day. TDP activists also staged protests at various places in Visakhapatnam city and in the district.
The TDP activists and leaders also organised rallies and a large number of police personnel were deployed at Narsipatnam and a few other areas in Anakapalli district and Visakhapatnam.
Ms. Padmavati also claimed that the charges against Mr. Patrudu were civil in nature and were yet to be proven. “This is nothing compared to the crimes committed by the Chief Minister himself, who is the prime accused in the money laundering case which amounts to lakhs of crores and is pending in the CBI court. Does my husband deserve such a treatment?” she questioned.
