Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son, Bandi Bhageerath, was arrested on Saturday night in a POCSO case registered against him, after the BJP leader confirmed his son had surrendered before the Telangana Police and joined the probe.
"The accused has been arrested by police," a senior police told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Cyberabad Police had issued a lookout circular against Bhageerath, while police teams conducted searches across the country to trace him.
The development came a day after the Telangana High Court refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Bhageerath while hearing his anticipatory bail plea. The court said it was not inclined to grant interim relief at this stage.
As part of the investigation, the statements of the alleged 17-year-old victim and her mother, who is the complainant in the case, were recorded before a magistrate on Saturday.
The Union Minister of State said he had asked his son to cooperate with the police soon after the complaint was registered last week.
"With utmost respect for the law and judiciary, today my son Bandi Bageerath went before the Telangana Police through our advocates for investigation. I have said this before too: whether it is my own son or a common citizen, everyone is equal before the law. My son has consistently maintained that he has committed no mistake," the Union minister said in a post on X.
"After consulting legal experts and placing before them the evidence available with us, we were advised that the matter would be addressed appropriately through the legal process," he said.
"At the same time, I believe in fully cooperating with the investigation and respecting the judicial system. Even though court proceedings are underway and orders are expected next week, and despite advice from our legal team, I felt there should be no hesitation from our side in cooperating with the inquiry. I have complete faith in the justice system," he added.
Bhageerath, who has repeatedly maintained that he had done no wrongdoing, had presented evidence in his favour to his lawyers, the Union minister said.
According to Sanjay, the lawyers were of the opinion that the case would be quashed and that Bhageerath would get bail, which led to the delay.
The case centres on an FIR registered at Petbasheerabad Police Station under Sections 74 and 75 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for outraging modesty and sexual harassment, along with Sections 11 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
After recording the victim’s statement, police invoked more stringent sections of the POCSO Act in the case.
According to the complaint filed by the girl’s mother, Bhageerath allegedly entered into a relationship with her daughter in June 2025 on the false promise of marriage and subjected her to inappropriate physical acts and pressure to consume alcohol between October 2025 and January 2026.
The FIR further stated that after the relationship ended on January 7, the girl allegedly attempted self-harm on two occasions later that month.
Bhageerath, however, characterised the case as a “counterblast” to a criminal complaint he had filed against the girl’s family earlier the same day. In his complaint lodged at Karimnagar-II Town Police Station, Bhageerath alleged that the girl’s family attempted to extort Rs 5 crore from him by threatening that their daughter would die by suicide if he failed to pay.
He also alleged that the girl and her parents pressured him to marry her after he became acquainted with the family and attended family functions and visits to religious places with them.
Bhageerath claimed he had paid Rs 50,000 to the girl’s father out of fear, but the family later escalated the demand to Rs 5 crore.
Meanwhile, Telangana Rakshana Sena president K Kavitha, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanded the removal of Bandi Sanjay Kumar as Minister of State for Home “to ensure a free and fair investigation in the POCSO case involving his son”.
Police had earlier appointed IPS officer Ritiraj to monitor the investigation following Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s directive to entrust the probe to a woman officer.