HYDERABAD: TPCC senior vice-president Mallu Ravi on Wednesday knocked the doors of the Telangana High Court, seeking a direction to the police to produce Ishan Sharma, Sasank Tatineni and Pratthap Manda, who were picked up from the office of Congress election strategist Sunil Kanugolu’s office at Madhapur late on Tuesday without any notice being issued.
Counsel for Ravi told the court that the TPCC had established the Congress War Room for the purpose of developing a strategic framework for improving the prospects of the party in the 2023 elections.
He said that several party workers and volunteers were working for political management services such as election surveys, political strategy and management analytics, political intelligence, election campaign management, digital media management and the like.
“At around 10.45 pm on Tuesday, Prasad, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Cyber Crimes and Ramesh Circle Inspector, Cyber Crimes, trespassed into our workplace and forcibly took away the detainees, namely, Ishan Sharma, Sasank Tatineni, and Prathap Manda. When our personnel questioned the same, the responses were nasty. The police forced our staff out, and took away the office equipment, which included computers, hard drives, and other related equipment. We addressed the DGP after learning of this and protested, and he informed us that he would look into the case and instruct the authorities involved to release the detainees as soon as possible. However, the detainees are yet to be freed or their whereabouts revealed,” the petitioner argued.
Appearing for Ravi, counsel Tera Rajanikanth Reddy requested Justice A Abhishek Reddy to hear the habeas corpus petition. Taking up the petition, the judge said that it will be heard on Thursday. Meanwhile, the court ordered the government pleader to get instructions from the Home department.