HYDERABAD: Congress election strategist Sunil Kanugolu was on Wednesday served notice by the Hyderabad police to appear for questioning on December 17.Joint Commissioner of Police Gajarao Bhupal, who described Kanugolu as the prime accused, said that the police personnel who raided the Mindshare United Foundation at Madhapur had no idea that it was the Congress War Room.
Bhupal asserted that the raid on Mindshare took place after five cases were registered under IPC Sections 469 and 505 (2) in different police stations in Hyderabad. “Notices were served under Section 41a CrPC to three people,” Bhupal said.He said that the allegation against Mindshare was of posting derogatory comments against women by way of illustrations on Facebook.
The illustrations Bhupal referred to were also posted by AICC in-charge for Telangana Manickam Tagore. In the first illustration captioned “Ab Ki Baar Liquor Sarkar,” the chief minister is seen addressing the people, and his daughter TRS MLC K Kavitha smiling.
In the second illustration, two hens are seen, their heads morphed with those of Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy and BJP leader Errabelli Pradeep Rao, munching on a bowl of poultry feed costing rS 100 crore. The Congress has been alleging a scam perpetrated by TRS leaders in poultry feed subsidies, from which Ranjith Reddy and Pradeep Rao benefited.
However, Bhupal said that there was no case against any political party. “The three persons taken into custody on Tuesday night were Mandha Sri Prathaap, Shashank and Eshaan Sharma. They were served notices under 41a CrPC. Based on their confession, Sunil is now the prime accused in the case but is not available,” Bhupal said, adding that the trio were released later. The Congress insists that five persons, not three, were taken into custody by the police.
Raid ignites a spark in Cong
However, party activists, responding to the call by the TPCC, staged protests across the State against the police raids on the office of Kanugolu at Madhapur and the arrest of five of his team members late on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, along with Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy went to Telangana Bhavan and staged a protest there.
Terming the seizure at Kanugolu’s office as ‘theft’ perpetrated by the Telangana police, they said that the police took away valuable material from the office, including enormous amounts of data gathered by the Congress on various issues that could have put the State government in the dock.
He asked if KCR wanted to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Narcotics, Income Tax, CBI and ED” (NICE) model in the State.
5 members of team missing
Stating that there was no information about the whereabouts of the five members of Kanugolu’s team and that their family members were worried, Revanth announced that he would protest at the BRS Bhavan in Delhi. However, when he reached Delhi, he went to the AICC office, where he spoke with the media again.
“KCR gave the slogan ‘Ab Ki Baar Kisan Sarkar’. To counter it, we coined the slogan ‘Ab Ki Baar, Liquor Sarkar’. If he is returned to power, he will establish a ‘liquor government’. Because he purchased some media houses in Telangana, we decided to launch our own campaign through social media against the BRS,” he said.
KTR insecure, hints Revanth
Revanth also alleged that TRS working president KT Rama Rao didn’t attend the BRS Bhavan inauguration in Delhi as he was upset that the chief minister was planning to pass on the mantle of power in Telangana to his daughter Kavitha.
In Telangana, Congress workers staged protests in all mandal headquarters across the State even as police placed senior party leaders, including Shabbir Ali and Mallu Ravi, under house arrest. Former minister Anjan Kumar Yadav and his son Anil Kumar Yadav, and Rohin Reddy were arrested.
Police personnel deployed in large numbers at the Gandhi Bhavan prevented Congress leaders and workers from going towards Pragathi Bhavan in the morning. Congress workers raised slogans against the BRS government and burnt effigies of the chief minister.
Congress working president T Jagga Reddy met Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand in the evening and later told the media that fresh notices were issued to Kanugolu’s office, a day after the raids.
TAGORE ROARS IN PARLIAMENT
Hyderabad: Congress MP and AICC in-charge of Telangana Manickam Tagore raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Wednesay. “Around 250 policemen barged into the Congress war room and seized 50 computers and a hard disk containing valuable data, in addition to arresting five of the strategy team members. There was neither a notice served, nor a search warrant issued. It is a complete violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement, as no notice was issued as per Section 41 (A) of the CRPC,” Tagore told Parliament in his minute-long speech.
Earlier during the day, he posted the same pictures posted by Sunil’s team –– two illustrations designed to criticise the State government. “For this FB post, Telangana Congress War room headed by #SunilKanugolu team at Hyderabad was raided and 50 computers taken. Data stolen. Five of our Proffesional partners arrested illegally without FIR ..Now I am posting the same let @TelanganaCMO arrest me .#HitlerKCR (sic)”, Tagore dared the State government.