Take action against officials for 'excesses' against ex-Mayor: Naidu to DGP

Vijayawada : TDP national president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday urged the DGP to take action against the police for their 'excesses' against Chittoor ex-Mayor Katari Hemalatha.

In a letter to DGP K V Rajendranath Reddy, Naidu said that the Chittoor police were intimidating witnesses and filing false cases in order to cover up the murder of Katari Mohan and Katari Anuradha, ex-Mayor of Chittoor. Appallingly, a section of police were blatantly siding with the ruling YSRCP goons and they were harassing key witnesses in various cases.

Lavanya, sister-in-law of Hemalatha, complained to Additional SP of Chittoor P Jagadeesh and also to Chittoor DSP on June 22, 2022 about extending protection to witnesses in the gruesome murder of Katari Anuradha and Mohan, who were parents-in-law of Hemalatha.

Naidu said that on June 23, 2022, it was learnt that Chittoor II Town Police were inquiring about the whereabouts of Satish Naidu, key witness in the murder case of Katari Mohan and his wife Katari Anuradha. The police threatened Prasanna, an aide of Hemalatha, to reveal the whereabouts of Satish Naidu.

Naidu said at around 9 pm on June 22, 2022 the police raided the house of Purna, brother of Prasanna, in order to threaten Prasanna to tell the whereabouts of Satish.

As part of this, the police have foisted a false case of marijuana against Purna and planned to arrest him in order to threaten Prasanna. Naidu said Hemalatha rushed to the place of incident along with her supporters to rescue Purna.

However, the police forcibly pushed Purna into the jeep and manhandled Hemalatha. Circle Inspector Yatindra pushed away Hemalatha and she fell down, sustaining grievous injuries. Further, the police, while reversing, ran their jeep over her, causing fracture in her legs. Hemalatha is admitted to hospital and is currently under treatment.

The TDP chief objected to the police foisting a case related to marijuana against Purna by showing a pack of green grass in the police jeep. CI Yatindra falsely admitted the jeep driver in the hospital to claim that Hemalatha and her group had attacked the driver.

Naidu urged the DGP to inquire and take stringent action against the erring police officials in foisting cases against Purna and for manhandling Hemalatha. If this trend of targeting and harassing of key witnesses continued, the police in Andhra Pradesh would be mocked and seen with contempt.

Any official deviating from their duties should be dealt with stringently. Only a quick action might help in restoring public faith in police, he said.