A Special Judicial Magistrate of the Prohibition and Excise Court in Guntur granted bail to Kollu Anka Babu, a senior journalist who was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) late on Thursday night under Sections 153(a), 505(2) and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Granting bail, the magistrate asked the CID to submit an explanation on the charges levelled against Mr. Anka Babu within four days.
The CID said that Mr. Anka Babu had posted a message on WhatsApp implying that the wife of a top official in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had been questioned by a special team at the Gannavaram airport on charges of bringing in a large quantity of gold from the UAE.
Based on a complaint lodged by an official in the CMO, a team from the CID arrested Mr. Anka Babu from his residence in Vijayawada.
Mr. Anka Babu had worked with several news organisations and is active on social media.
“The allegations levelled by the accused on social media could have caused enmity between sections of society and instigated tensions. Further, the accused had not cooperated with the police when they tried to serve a notice under Section 41-A,” said the CID.
