The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, November 20, reserved its orders on a petition filed by former BRS MLA Patnam Narender Reddy, who was arrested for the attack on the District Collector and other officials in Vikarabad district last week, seeking that the case against him be quashed. However, the court found fault with the police for the manner in which it arrested the former MLA, when he was on his morning walk at KBR Park in Hyderabad.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, a division bench reserved its order. It directed police to submit the statements of eyewitnesses to the November 11 incident at Lagacharla, when residents allegedly attacked government officials who had arrived to conduct a public hearing over acquiring their lands for a proposed pharma cluster.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader sought quashing of the case registered against him. His counsel argued that he was arrayed in the case as the first accused based on the confession statements of the other accused.
As Narender Reddy’s counsel told the court that the police arrested him like he was a “terrorist” when he was on a morning walk at KBR Park, the bench wanted to know if the police followed the Supreme Court guidelines while arresting the accused. The court also observed that a proper report was not submitted on the nature of injuries to the officials.
While the police claimed in their remand report that the Collector and other officials had suffered severe, bleeding injuries, the Collector Prateek Jain himself had earlier said that there wasn’t even really an “attack” and only a minor issue.
The public prosecutor told the court that Narender Reddy instigated people to attack officials. He argued that if the former MLA's petition is allowed, this would impact the investigation in the case.
The incident in Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s Assembly constituency Kodangal had triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and the main opposition BRS with the former blaming BRS leaders for the violence.
Police on November 13 arrested Narender Reddy in Hyderabad and the same day a court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days. He is currently lodged in Cherlapally Jail.
The High Court on Tuesday, November 10, directed prison authorities to allot a special barrack to the former MLA. He had made a request to the court seeking direction for allotment of a separate barrack separating from other inmates in the jail.
The High Court also permitted Narender Reddy to receive home-cooked meals while in jail.