A day after creating a ruckus at the Sunday’s District Review Committee (DRC) Meeting, attended by three ministers, in Karimnagar, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy was arrested in Hyderabad on Monday by the Karimnagar police.
He is being shifted to Karimnagar where he would be presented before the magistrate after questioning. He was arrested when he was coming out of the office of a news channel after participating in a programme. The police waiting outside took him into custody and drove away to Karimnagar.
The arrest is based on a complaint from Jagityal MLA Sanjay’s personal assistant Katroju Vinod for misbehaviour and verbal abuse. Another case was registered based on a complaint filed by Karimnagar RDO Maheshwar Reddy for creating chaos in the official meeting.
Another case was registered on a complaint filed by Karimnagar Library Chairman Mallesham for misbehaving with him. Some more cases are likely to be filed on the incident where Mr. Kaushik Reddy behaved aggressively with the MLA despite no provocation from the other side.
Political storm
Meanwhile, Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy’s verbal altercation with Jagtial MLA M. Sanjay over the issue of ‘switching allegiance’ to the ruling Congress party last year, during the latter’s speech at the DRC meeting in Karimnagar on Sunday drew flak from the Congress party’s rank-and-file in the district.
The ruckus in the Sunday’s DRC meeting ended up in jostling between the duo in the presence of Minister for Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Minister for Industries and IT D Sridhar Babu and Minister for Transport and BC Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar.
The incident triggered a political storm in the erstwhile composite Karimnagar district with the ruling party leaders training their guns on Mr. Kaushik Reddy accusing him of behaving in a rude manner in the official meeting. Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy, D Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar, who were witness to the ruckus, termed Mr. Kaushik Reddy’s behaviour reprehensible.
The incident led to registration of three FIRs against Mr. Kaushik Reddy based on separate complaints lodged by Karimnagar RDO K Maheshwar, the Zilla Grandhalaya Samstha chairman and the personal assistant of Dr. Sanjay. Mr Reddy booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including Section 132 (assault or criminal force against a public servant).
Earlier, speaking to the media in Karimnagar Jagtial MLA Sanjay alleged that Mr Kaushik Reddy abused and attacked him in the DRC meeting. It needs to be investigated whether he did so on his own or instigated by some others, he said, adding that he complained to the Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker in this matter.
He said: “Let BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and working president K T Rama Rao tender an apology for admitting leaders from all the political parties including TDP, BSP, Congress and also the CPI into the BRS during their stint at the helm.”
(With inputs from P. Sridhar in Karimnagar)
Published – January 13, 2025 09:54 pm IST