HC junks ex-BRS lawmaker’s plea seeking quashing of case against him
The case was filed against Patnam Narender Reddy by police in connection with the violent incidents at Lagacharla village in Vikarabad district on November 11
The Telangana high court on Wednesday dismissed the petition of former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lawmaker Patnam Narender Reddy seeking quashing of a case filed against him by police in connection with the violent incidents at Lagacharla village in Vikarabad district on November 11, people familiar with the matter said.
Justice K Lakshman, who reserved his order after hearing the arguments on the MLA’s petition, pronounced the judgement on Wednesday, refusing to interfere in the orders of the lower court in Vikarabad extending his judicial remand.
The judge, however, asked the lower court to consider the bail petition of the BRS leader on the basis of merits.
On November 13, the Telangana police arrested Reddy from his residence in connection with an attack on Vikarabad district collector Prateek Jain and other officials by some people at Lagacharla village on November 11.
He was produced before the district magistrate court in Vikarabad, which remanded him in judicial custody. The judicial remand was later extended till December 11.
Police, who named Reddy as Accused No. 1 in the case, charged him with instigating violence at Lagacharla, as his mobile call data records showed that he had been in touch the Bogamoni Suresh, a local BRS youth wing leader, who spearheaded the attack on the collector and other officials.
The officials went to the village to conduct a public hearing on land acquisition of a pharma cluster, which was strongly resisted by the local residents.
The incident in chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s assembly constituency Kodangal triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and the main opposition BRS with the former blaming BRS leaders for the violence.
Following a complaint from Vikarabad sub-divisional police officer N Srinivas Reddy, police registered a case under Section 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), 191 (2) (3) (rioting), 109 (attempt to murder), 121 (1) (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 324 (4) r/w 190 (causing loss to the property) of BNS and Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 128 of BNSS (acting against suspected criminals).
The high court on November 29 quashed two of the three first information reports registered against the former MLA, who represented the Kodangal assembly constituency between 2018 and 2023 after defeating present chief minister A Revanth Reddy. The high court agreed with the contention of the MLA’s wife, Sruthi, who questioned the registration of three FIRs in the same case.