Justice K. Surender of the Telangana High Court on Thursday instructed the Kagaznagar police of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district not to arrest State Bahujan Samaj Party chief R.S. Praveen Kumar, who is contesting from Kagaznagar, and others, in a case registered during election campaigning there.
The judge passed the direction after hearing a writ petition filed by the BSP chief requesting the HC to quash the criminal case registered against him and his party workers.
The Kagaznagar Town police on November 13 registered a criminal case against Mr. Praveen Kumar, a former IPS officer who joined politics after taking voluntary retirement, following a complaint lodged by a vehicle driver Aleem Khan.
The FIR issued by the police stated that Mr. Khan charged that Mr. Praveen Kumar and 15 others intercepted his vehicle, tried to kill him, snatched ₹25,000 from him and fled on November 13. Based on this, the police booked a criminal case against them.
Mr. Praveen Kumar, in his plea, said that the complainant is a supporter of BRS MLA Koneru Konappa, contesting from Kagaznagar. He charged that police registered the case without any evidence. The BSP chief sought a direction to stop all further proceedings in the case.
In another election related issue, the HC dismissed a writ petition filed by former MLA Saudagar Gangaram challenging the decision of Jukkal Returning Officer over his complaint that Congress nominee Thota Laxmikantha Rao presented a fake SC certificate.
A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar, declining to pass any order in the plea, observed that the court cannot interfere in the matter at the present stage as the election process had already commenced.
Mr. Gangaram contended that Mr. Rao did not belong to SC and still the Returning Officer (RO) accepted the nomination. The petitioner wanted the RO to reject the Congress candidate’s nomination papers for Jukkal (SC reserved Assembly constituency).
The Bench said it was RO’s responsibility to go into details of the candidate’s caste, adding that the petitioner can file an election petition eventually to challenge Mr. Rao’s claims.
