ANANTAPUR/KADAPA: TDP leader and former MLA JC Prabhakar Reddy and his son Asmit Reddy were shifted to Kadapa Central Jail on Saturday night with Tadipatri sub-jail authorities objecting to lodge them in the prison citing security concerns.
They were arrested in Hyderabad on Saturday for allegedly buying scrap vehicles, illegally registering them, plying them and selling some of them in violation of several laws and contrary to the Supreme Court verdict prohibiting the sale of BS-III vehicles.
On Saturday evening, both of them were produced before First Class Magistrate Tousif Khan, who remanded the duo to 14 days’ judicial custody. Following the magistrate order, both were taken to Anantapur district jail at Reddipalli village in BK Samudram mandal.
However, as a Covid-19 case was reported in the jail, they were brought back to the magistrate, who then ordered police to lodge them in Tadipatri sub-jail. When the duo were taken there, Tadipatri sub-jail authorities raised concern stating that they are not in a position to take such high-profile remand prisoners for security reasons. Further, they said as Prabhakar Reddy is well-known for his influence in Tadipatri, lodging him in the sub-jail is very risky.
When district SP Satya Yesu Babu was informed of the matter and the possible law and order problem, he wrote a letter to the magistrate explaining the situation and asking him to let Prabhakar and his son be lodged in Kadapa Central Jail. The First Class Magistrate agreed to the request.
Around 12:30 am, the duo were escorted to Kadapa jail. When they reached the jail around 4 am, the authorities lodged them in the prison after taking the remand order from police. They were given prisoner numbers 27027 and 2708.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh requested the jail authorities for a meeting with Prabhakar Reddy and his son. However, he was denied permission citing Covid-19 norms. Lokesh is scheduled to visit Anantapur and meet Prabhakar’s family on Monday.