VIJAYAWADA: In a dramatic turn of events, former MLA and TDP leader Chintamaneni Prabhakar was taken into custody by the Visakhapatnam rural police while he was moving in the agency area of Chintapalli in Visakhapatnam district late Sunday night and let off on Monday after serving notices in a case related to staging a protest at Denduluru in West Godavari district a few days ago.
Visakhapatnam police said the vehicles of Chintamaneni and his followers were stopped at the Dharakonda checkpost and when asked as to why they were going into the Agency, they did not give proper answers. Chintamaneni was taken into custody while the other vehicles fled, the police said.
On Monday, the former MLA was shifted to Denduluru where a case was registered against him two days ago for participating in a protest against fuel price hike, in violation of the Covid norms. v
Earlier in the day, TDP supremo and Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to Director General of Police Gautam Sawang condemning the “arrest” of Chintamaneni Prabhakar and other TDP leaders for staging protests against the rising prices of diesel, petrol and essential commodities.
“The police should focus on bringing down the crime rate by preventing atrocities, rapes and murders instead of targeting the TDP leaders. They should immediately withdraw all the false cases filed against the opposition protesters on August 28,’’ he demanded. Naidu told the DGP that there were mid-night arrests of innocent people for voicing their dissent. The attacks on opposition were continuing as evident from the “arrest” of Prabhakar. He asked whether it was illegal to express dissent in a democracy.