VIJAYAWADA: Two days after rebel YSRC MP from Narasapur Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju lodged a complaint with the Delhi police against Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department chief PV Sunil Kumar alleging that the phone confiscated during his arrest on May 14 is being used to send offensive messages to others, the APCID released a statement on Monday saying the phone seized from the MP is in the custody of the AP Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) since May 18 and that the CID has no access to the same.
The CID clarified the “intervening propaganda” (of misuse of his phone) was undertaken by Raju to overawe the investigating agency with false and frivolous complaints. It may be recalled that the AP CID registered a case against the MP and two vernacular news channels on charges of sedition. The MP was arrested on May 14 from his Hyderabad residence and was later granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Two days ago, the MP wrote to the Delhi police stating his mobile phone was not shown as a seized property by the CID and that messages were sent to retired IAS officer P V Ramesh from the mobile phone.Responding to the claims of Raju, the CID said the mobile phone of the MP was seized as per procedure and a seizure memo was prepared in the presence of witnesses on May 15. “The cell phone was an important piece of evidence in the case,’’ the CID pointed out.
The agency said when the seizure memo was prepared, Raju himself admitted that the iPhone 11 Pro Max mobile phone carries an Airtel SIM with number 9000911111. “At that point, there was no way the IO could ascertain what the actual number was. He recorded what was told to him by Raju,” the statement said and added that the mobile phone was sealed in front of two witnesses. The report of the same was forwarded to the concerned jurisdictional magistrate of the CID court, Guntur, the CID informed.
Further, the mobile phone in the sealed cover was forwarded to the APFSL on May 18 for preliminary analysis and final report. “Every development is being reported to the court. In this regard, a dump of the phone was submitted to the court on May 27 and processed dump data (images) was submitted to the court on May 31,” the CID informed. The CID said as the mobile phone was in the custody of the APFSL, it does not have any access to the phone. “The CID has no idea about the actual number as the final report of the FSL is awaited,’’ the agency said.
From time to time, updates of forensic analysis are being informed to the jurisdictional court. The final report from FSL is awaited and it would be possible to establish the SIM number in the cellphone of Raju only after getting the report, the statement read.