Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court came down heavily on the Telangana Police after Congress leader Revanth Reddy, was arrested in a raid on his house past midnight for reportedly threatening to disrupt a rally of caretaker CM Chandrashekar Rao.
Questioning if Telangana was a “banana republic”, the court had also summoned the state police chief.
On Wednesday, the Election Commission ordered the transfer of the Vikarabad Superintendent of Police T Annapurna and posted Avinash Mohanthy as the new district Superintendent of Police. The EC also directed the Telangana Director General of Police not to use the services of Annapurna for election purposes.
Reddy, a Congress candidate from Kodangal constituency, was released after the rally of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief. The Hyderabad High Court had faulted the Telangana Police for the manner in which Reddy was arrested and wondered if the state had become a banana republic.
The court had also asked the Advocate General to produce the evidence based on which the police acted against Reddy.
The High Court heard the Habeas Corpus petition filed by a Congress leader for a second consecutive day on Wednesday. A division bench of Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy summoned Director General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy and asked him to show the grounds on which the police arrested the Congress leader.
The DGP was also asked at which level the decision to arrest the Congress candidate was taken.
A lawyer of the petitioner told reporters that the court was not satisfied with the explanation and records provided by the DGP. It raised doubts on the veracity of a document from the intelligence department.
The court directed the DGP to file an affidavit and adjourned the hearing to December 17. Telangana is going to the polls on December 7.
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