VIJAYAWADA: Machilipatnam police visited TDP leader and former minister Kollu Ravindra’s residence and served a notice seeking his cooperation in the investigation in the murder attempt on Minister for Transport and Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani) on Friday.
Police personnel led by Inaguduru Circle Inspector Srinivas Rao served a notice under Section 91 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on Kollu Ravindra. Responding to the notice, Kollu Ravindra told the police that he will cooperate with the investigation.
The move comes after the police verified the call data of the accused Badugu Nageswara Rao who attacked Nani with a trowel on November 29. “We noticed that the accused kept Kollu Ravindra’s photo as his mobile phone wallpaper and also allegedly got some benefits from the latter,” police said.
On the other hand, the Machilipatnam police after getting the custody of Nageswara Rao, questioned him for the second consecutive day on Friday to know the motive behind the attack on the minister. “We have interrogated five members including the sister of the accused, Badugu Umadevi, also a TDP leader,’’ police said.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu criticised the government for harassing TDP leader and politburo member Ravindra in the name of investigation.
“A construction worker, who was deprived of livelihood and was forced to starve due to the ‘artificial sand
scarcity’ created by the government, had attacked the minister out of frustration. We have condemned the attack but spreading false information that the TDP leaders are behind the attack is not correct,’’ Naidu said.He said that calling Kollu Ravindra in the name of investigation is nothing but a witch-hunt.
“Does the government want to attribute all the crimes that happen in the State to the TDP?’’ Naidu questioned and said it is nothing but harassing a BC leader.
Naidu further alleged that earlier also Ravindra was arrested in a case of murder that took place due to family disputes.