Hyderabad: Complying with a court directive,
the Hyderabad city police today booked a case against 16
ministers of Andhra Pradesh on the charge of promoting enmity
and defamation for allegedly terming as "anti-national" the
demand for Telangana statehood.
Following the directions from a local court, Saifabad
police registered the case against the ministers under Section
499 (defamation), Section 500 (punishment for defamation) and
Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of
IPC, DCP Akun Sabharwal told PTI tonight, adding they had
registered the case and would first thoroughly investigate the
matter.
Based on a complaint by Telangana Advocates Joint Action
Committee (T-AJAC) leader Sriranga Rao, who sought action
against the ministers for their remarks opposing formation of
separate Telangana state and hurting the sentiments of the
people of Telangana region, the First Additonal Chief
Metropolitan Court directed the police to register an FIR,
conduct the investigations and submit a status report before
it by August 28.
The complainant, in his petition, said the delegation of
16 ministers (from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions )
led by Gade Venkata Reddy, in their representation submitted
to Srikrishna Committee on August 6, had allegedly termed the
demand for statehood to Telangana as "anti-national" and
pleaded this be treated as a cognizable offence under IPC as
it had the potential to integrate the country.
PTI
