TIRUPATI: After two long months of high drama, an important chapter in the Air India manager assault case, registered at the Yerpedu Police Station, came to an end on Sunday with a local court in Srikalahasti remanding the main accused in the case - Rajampeta YSRC MP P Mithun Reddy and his associate and party colleague Madhusudan Reddy to a 14-day custody. The duo, who were arrested at the Chennai airport on arrival there from Bangkok late on Saturday night, were brought to the Srikalahasti Police Station and later produced before the court.
The incident - in which Mithun Reddy and 11 of his associates had allegedly assaulted Air India (AI) manager Rajasekhar on a trivial issue at the Tirupati Airport in November last had gained attention after the public outrage over it on the social media.
In these two months, the police who had arrested 10 of Mithun Reddy’s accomplices in the incident, were on the lookout for Mithun Reddy and Madhusudan Reddy, who had gone absconding. According to sources, the police issued a Look-Out Circular (LOC) against the MP on court orders. “The LOC is a regular process initiated against any accused person if he or she tries to evade criminal proceedings. The notice was issued when the police department received information that the accused was travelling abroad disobeying the court summons’’, said a senior police officer.
The officer said that soon after the Tirupati Urban Police were informed by the Chennai Airport authorities that they had detained Mithun Reddy along with his associate Madhusudan Reddy, the police dispatched a special team to Chennai to arrest the Reddy duo and bring them back. The officer was of the opinion that the situation wouldn’t have become difficult and the case would not have got so much publicity had the accused cooperated with the police. “The situation became difficult when the MP fled the country to evade arrest.When the court was told about this, the judge promptly prohibited the arrested MP from travelling abroad without court permission,’’ he added.
According to the officer, during the hearing of the case, the judge told Mithun Reddy, “Being in a responsible position of the country, it is your duty to abide by the rule of law. “