Hyderabad police have detained former Telangana digital media director Konatham Dileep from his residence in Hyderabad on Thursday, September 5. Dileep was arrested by the Telangana Cyber Crime Police. Leaders from BRS including Praveen Kumar have been protesting his arrest in front of the Central Crime Station where he is being held presently. The BRS has alleged that Dileep was arrested without being informed of the charges against him and have accused CM Revanth Reddy of political vendetta.
Konatham Dileep who is a vocal critic of the Congress government, was actively involved in the separate statehood movement for Telangana. The BRS handle on ‘X’ has accused the Hyderabad police of illegally arresting him and has called it an attempt to silence those who question the Revanth Reddy government. “The police who illegally detained Dileep should immediately release him. There has been no freedom of speech in Telangana for 9 months. Autocratic rule is going on,” the post read.
On Thursday, the Hyderabad police also registered an FIR against Telugu Scribe, a regional media platform, for allegedly promoting enmity between two communities. Though Dileep has no connection with Telugu Scribe, it is not clear if his arrest is connected to the same case. The FIR against Telugu Scribe was based on a complaint from Nitish Kumar, a constable at the cybercrime police station, who alleged that Telugu Scribe posted inflammatory content on its X (formerly Twitter). The posts reportedly contained disturbing clips related to religious disturbances.
This action follows communal violence on September 4 in Jainoor, Asifabad district, triggered by an alleged attempted rape of an Adivasi woman. In response, Adivasi groups called for a bandh, during which they attacked Muslim-owned properties, setting shops and vehicles on fire. A curfew has been imposed to prevent further violence.