HYDERABAD: Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Monday dispensed with the personal appearance of Duddilla Sridhar Babu, Minister for Information Technology, in a case linked to disruptions during the public hearing on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
The case, stemming from an FIR (No. 162/2017) registered on August 23, 2017, at Basantnagar police station in Peddapalli district, accuses Sridhar Babu and over 300 others of rioting, criminal force to deter public servants, and mischief (Sections 147, 353, 427 read with 149 IPC). The allegations involve creating obstacles for government officials during their duties, raising slogans against the then chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and disrupting a public hearing held at Reddy Functional Hall, Raghavapuram, Peddapalli.
While hearing the criminal petition filed by Sridhar Babu, Justice Lakshman issued a notice to the complainant, K Mallikarjuna Prasad, Executive Engineer of Kataram, who alleged in his complaint that the minister and others created a ruckus, threw chairs, and ignored attempts by the district collector and police to restore order.
The high court directed Sridhar Babu to appear before the Special Judicial First Class Magistrate for Excise Cases at Hyderabad only when required, thus relieving him from attending routine court proceedings.
The court also dealt with a separate criminal revision petition filed by the minister, seeking quashing of the lower court’s order dated November 22, 2024, in CC No. 26 of 2023. This earlier order of the special court had dismissed his plea for discharge from the case. Justice Lakshman upheld the lower court’s decision, dismissing the revision petition and ruling that the trial must proceed.
The high court has adjourned the matter for further hearing to January 6, 2025, leaving the issue of Sridhar Babu’s involvement and the subsequent trial open for judicial determination.