HYDERABAD: Justice K Surender of the Telangana High Court on Thursday instructed the Cyber Crimes police, not to take any coercive action against Ishan Sharma and two others in the Congress war room case, and not arrest them.
Taking up the Interlocutory Application (IA) filed by Ishan Sharma and two others, the court directed the police not to harass the petitioners under the guise of investigation. However, the investigation may continue, the court said, adding that the petitioners were free to appear before the Investigation Officer (IO) under Section 41(A) CrPC on or before Monday. The main petition was deferred till after the Sankranti vacations.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel CV Mohan Reddy argued that the notices issued under Section 41(A) CrPC to Ishan Sharma, Shashank Tatineni and Manda Sai Pratap were identical to the notices issued in the MLAs poaching case against BL Santhosh, Jaggu Swamy and Tushar Vellappally, which were stayed by this court.
He said that on November 20, 2022, Telangana Galam’s Facebook page posted a video in the style of a spoof or political parody in which the faces of the chief minister, MLC K Kavitha and Minister KT Rama Rao were superimposed on characters in a scene from the film Mayabazaar, in which each of these people opens a magic box and finds money, alcohol, drugs and other items.
In vehement opposition to senior counsel’s arguments, Public Prosecutor Pratap Reddy asserted that the petitioners were listed as defendants in the FIR, that all pertinent evidence was collected in their presence, and that they signed the panchnama. The PP continued by stating that this case was distinct from the notices issued in the poaching case since the petitioners are parties to the proceedings, as stated in the FIR, and have signed both the panchnama and the seizure statement.
Don’t intimidate, court tells cops
The court ordered the police not to use any coercive measures against the petitioners and not to make any arrests.
The court also ordered the police to refrain from intimidating the petitioners while conducting an inquiry.