HYDERABAD: Condemning the arrest of seven members of a fact finding team of civil society members from Telangana in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, members of Telangana Development Forum (TDF) staged a protest in the city on Tuesday morning, following which they were detained by police. A couple of hours later, they were later let off.
Civil Liberties Council president Laxman, Aam Aadmi Party member PL Vishweshwar Rao, former OU professor Padmaja Shaw, Democratic Students Union state president Badri, K Savitri from CRPP, Devendra from CMS and Bandaru Laxmaiah from KNPS were detained here. They alleged that the TDF members were arrested on Monday at 9 am but the families were informed at mid-night. Though the arrest was made in Dummugudem village of Telangana, the police claim that the arrest was made in Konta Village of Chhattisgarh, they said.
A round table conference is being planned in the city to discuss the issue.
Those arrested by Chhattisgarh police are charged under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act are Chikud Prabhakar, Bala Ravinder (both advocates), Mohamed Nazeer (student), Rajendra Prasad, R Lakshmanaiah (tribal rights activists), journalist B Durgaprasad and a researcher D Prabhakar.
Yesterday, TNIE had reported that based on the intelligence inputs about the group members’ being ‘engaged’ in suspicious activities and police put on surveillance before their arrests. They were produced before the Sukma district court where their bail applications were rejected and remanded to judicial custody.