The Hyderabad cyber crime police on Tuesday evening raided the office of Q News located in Medipally, Medchal-Malkajgiri district, and seized laptops, harddisk and the mobile phone of journalist Chintapandu Naveen Kumar, popularly known as Teenmaar Mallanna, his on-screen character. Mallanna is a vocal critic of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, and Q News is an independent YouTube channel run by him. The journalist has been booked under sections 67 IT Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and 417 (Punishment for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
The office was raided following a complaint by a former female employee of the same organisation. On Sunday, Mallanna on his daily show ‘Morning News’, made an alleged expose on Chiluka Praveen, another former employee who has been removed from Q News following allegations of extortion. As part of this expose, Mallanna, insinuated that Praveen was promiscuous by sharing photos of him with the complainant; although they were blurred to keep the identity discreet. Further, Mallanna had boasted that he had surveillance over his staff to prevent any lapse. Based on the complaint of the woman, the police raided the office and seized all digital storage devices for investigation.
The complainant who approached the police on Monday, said, “While making allegations against Chiluka Praveen, Mallanna shared some photos and videos. And some of the photos featured me. Following this, many people started calling me saying that my photos were telecasted. Chiluka Praveen and I are both colleagues and friends. The photos which we took together were portrayed as if we were doing something illegal. While telecasting the photos he used words like ‘lodge’ to defame me. This act has breached my privacy and brought disrepute to me."
The police in their First Information Report (FIR) claimed that Mallanna, along with his brother Venkatesh, a software engineer, and other techies, designed illegal mobile applications and were using them to collect personal data of people for blackmailing purposes.
Along with this, in a different case registered on April 22, the Chilkalguda police station also summoned him with a ‘Notice of Appearance’. He was asked to appear before the police within two days for inquiry. In this case, he was accused of ‘extortion’ and ‘intentional insult to breach peace.’
Condemning the raids against Q News and the harassment of Mallanna, BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay said, “The case against Teenmaar Mallanna is atrocious. With this case it is now clear that the KCR government is stifling voices which are questioning the regime. The police raid under the direction of KCR, was carried out to erase the evidence collected against the TRS leaders and KCR's family members.”
Accusing the police of high-handedness, he said, "If the police receive any complaint, they should first serve a notice and then proceed as per the law. But police officials brazening it out and conducting raids and seizing devices is condemnable.”
Seemingly to send a message to the critics, the government deliberately created an environment of hostility by sending a large police contingent, Sanjay said.
Q News కార్యాలయంలో పోలీసుల సోదాలను ఖండిస్తున్నాం
— BJP Telangana (@BJP4Telangana) August 4, 2021
ప్రశ్నించే గొంతును నొక్కేసేందుకే Q News పై దాడి
సీఎం అవినీతిని ప్రశ్నిస్తే సంఘ విద్రోహ శక్తులుగా చిత్రించే ప్రయత్నం
- @bandisanjay_bjp ఎంపీ, బిజెపి తెలంగాణ అధ్యక్షుడు pic.twitter.com/BQjSCoyOEZ