Sordid saga: Cops Vs lawyers

Vijayawada: North Zone Assistant Commissioner of Police M Sravani said on Tuesday Kappareddy Praveen Kumar, a resident of Ramavarappadu, has been harassing Pasalapudi Sravanti and exerting pressure on her to marry him.

She said the Ajit Singh Nagar police registered two cases against the accused for harassing Sravanthi, who lodged a complaint with police stating that the accused, Praveen Kumar, had taken Rs 4 lakh from her. The ACP, addressing a media conference here on Tuesday, said the accused had befriended the woman, who was working as a computer operator in a private firm in the city.  

ACP Sravani said Sravanti’s father P Nageswara Rao had died and later she got the retirement benefits. But, the accused cleverly stole the cash of Rs 4 lakh from her and later has been exerting pressure on her to marry him.  

She said the accused Praveen Kumar is already married and has a wife and two children. Initially, he told her that he was not married and after many months, he confessed that he was a married man having wife and two children.

The ACP said the Ajit Singh Nagar police earlier registered two cases against Praveen Kumar and he was arrested twice and released on bail later.
She informed  the media that the accused had threatened the victim and put pressure on her to withdraw the criminal cases, which were filed by Ajit Singh Nagar police. 

The ACP also alleged that lawyer  Kiran kumar had made false allegations against the city police alleging that the police had been harassing his client Praveen Kumar.  She informed that the advocate had supported the cheats who collected money from the local residents at Ajit Singh Nagar on allotment of houses at Jakkampudi Colony.

On the other hand, the accused Praveen Kumar alleged that the city police had been harassing him and registered false cases against him.  He told the media near the civil courts here that he filed a case in the family court for restitution of conjugal rights after his live-in partner left him at the behest of her maternal uncle.

He said that her maternal uncle owed him Rs 10 lakh in some business deal and after exhausting all means, he filed a suit for repayment in the civil court. The police already foisted a number of criminal cases against him and even threatening him with dire consequences, he alleged.

The Singh Nagar Circle Inspector has been harassing him, he said and added that they had nothing do with the cases he filed either in the family court or in the civil court for the recovery of his amount. “I am being intimidated to come to terms and only to evade the money they owed to me,” Praveen said.

Advocates Kiran Kumar and Katamraju Venkateswara Rao said that the police, instead of concentrating on the criminals and law and order, have been harassing the citizens with their ulterior motives. They said that the police do not like advocates visiting their stations. They only entertain middlemen and street-level politicians.