KURNOOL : Former IPS officer and TDP leader Mandra Shivananda Reddy gave the slip to Telangana police who reportedly came to his Nandikotkur residence to arrest him in a land-grab case on Monday.
Mild tension prevailed at Allur village in Nandikotkur Assembly constituency in Nandyal district when the Telangana police reached the TDP leader’s house in the morning.
However, Shivananda’s followers prevented the Hyderabad CCS police from taking their leader into custody. In the melee, he disappeared from his house. A number of TDP supporters gathered at his residence as well as his office and entered into a heated argument with the police when the latter tried to take him into custody without serving any notice in the land-grab case registered in 2012 at Hyderabad.
Shivananda reportedly asked the police to serve notices on him before taking him into custody. While the police were preparing the notice, he left in his car. He later released a video explaining that he had not committed any crime and the police had no right to arrest him without issuing notice.
‘Will cooperate if cops come with proper evidence’
He claimed that his name did not figure in the FIR of the case concerned. He said he will cooperate if police come with evidence and warrants.
Shivananda Reddy was a former IPS officer and he was into real estate business in Hyderabad. Later, he entered politics. He unsuccessfully contested the 2019 general elections from Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency on TDP ticket. He is presently the TDP in-charge for Nandyal parliament constituency. He was reportedly involved in a land grabbing case and had nexus with deceased gangster Nayeem.
He allegedly registered 50 acres of government land worth thousands of crores located in Narsingi area near Rajendranagar in Hyderabad, in his name with fake documents.
Meanwhile, Shivananda Reddy participated in a party campaign meeting at Prathakota village late evening after the Telangana police left his home.