VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed in Pedavegi Mandal of West Godavari district on Wednesday afternoon following the arrest of former TDP MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar in a case registered against him under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Later, he was produced before the Excise Court Judge in Eluru.
C Josef and other Dalits of Pinakamidi village lodged a complaint with police against the former TDP MLA recently that he insulted them.
However, instead of showing that he was arrested in the case registered based on the complaint of Josef and other villagers of Pinakamidi, it was mentioned that Chintamaneni was arrested in the SC, ST case registered against him on September 6, 2017, based on a complaint filed by Kosanada Venkataratnam of Tallapudi village in Pedapadu Mandal. The Judge remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
During the arrest of Chintamaneni, a high drama took place at his residence in Duggirala village of Pedavegi Mandal. The police, who had been on the lookout for the former MLA for the past two weeks, rushed to his native village on receiving information that he was visiting his house. As many as 12 police teams were searching for him for the past 10 days. A CI and an SI were suspended for their negligence in the case.
The TDP leader, who was reportedly on his way to Eluru for surrendering before the court, returned home on seeing the police. As a large number of TDP activists thronged his house, an additional police force was rushed to Duggirala to thwart any untoward incident. On hearing the news of his arrest, TDP activists and Chintamaneni’s supporters in Gangannagudem of Denduluru Mandal tried to obstruct police vehicles. Following a heated argument between police and TDP activists, Chintamaneni has whisked away to an undisclosed location. Around 3 pm, the police took Chintamaneni to a government hospital for a medical check-up.