Hyderabad: Cops to ask court for life sentence to Bhuma Akhila Priya

Hyderabad: The former tourism minister of AP, Bhuma Akhila Priya, was produced before the Secunderabad City Civil court on Monday and her bail petition was rejected by the court and extended her judicial custody until the next hearing.

The court rejected her bail petition and returned her bail application for the second consecutive term, stating that it was not competent enough to grant bail to her.

The police filed a memo in the case and told the court that they had slapped more number of criminal sections against her. They said that they had included sections related to dacoit against her. The court said that the offences which carry life term of convictions would not come under its purview. The counsel for the former minister are now planning to file a bail plea in Nampally sessions court.

The police added Section 395 of IPC in her chargesheet and sought punishment to her from the court. But the court rejected the appeal of city police and instructed that the section does not fall under the court's jurisdiction. Itasked the police to approach the Nampally criminal court for booking criminal cases against her.

Section 395 of IPC is a punishment for dacoity. The law states that punishment for dacoity is, whoever commits dacoity, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.

Husband files for anticipatory bail

Meanwhile, the husband of Akhila Priya, Bhargav Ram, filed for an anticipatory bail at Nampally court. He is still at large. Bhargav Ram is the accused no. 3 in the kidnapping case of Praveen Rao and his brothers and is still on a run. Special teams formed by the city police are on a massive hunt to trace whereabouts of Ram and his associate Guntur Srinu. Recently, the police achieved a breakthrough as 15 men who were involved in the kidnapping were arrested and sent to judicial remand.

Akhila Priya and many others were arrested for their role in the kidnapping of Praveen Rao and his brothers on January 5. Further investigations by police revealed that both the families had a dispute of land at Hafeezpet since 2016 and from that time they were at loggerheads.