E-Paper
YouTuber among 5 held for assault on Hyderabad cops
Unconfirmed reports said police had picked up Mallanna and others from his office late on Tuesday night for their alleged derogatory comments against chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members on his YouTube channel, based on a complaint lodged by some BRS supporters
Journalist-cum-political activist and YouTuber Chintapandu Naveen Kumar alias Teenmaar Mallanna and four others were arrested on Wednesday for alleged abduction and wrongful confinement of two police constables, besides assault on police officials on duty in Hyderabad on Tuesday night, police said.
The five were arrested from their “Q News” digital channel office at Peerzadiguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad. “They were produced before the local court which remanded them to 14-day judicial custody,” Medipally police inspector G Goverdhan Giri said.
Apart from Mallanna, 47, the others arrested were identified as Bandaru Ravinder (29), Uppala Nikhil (19), Sirra Sudhakar (34) and Chintha Sandeep Kumar (36).
Unconfirmed reports, however, said the police had picked up Mallanna and others from his office late on Tuesday night for their alleged derogatory comments against chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members on his YouTube channel, based on a complaint lodged by some Bharat Rashtra Samithi supporters.
In his remand report submitted to the court, the police inspector said at about 8 pm on Tuesday, three unknown persons holding lathis approached the two police officials who were performing vehicle checking duty at Peerzadiguda to prevent chain snatchings and other property-related offences.
“Though the policemen identified themselves, the accused assaulted them with lathis and rained blows on them, before forcibly taking them to “Q-News” office nearby. They even grabbed the ID cards of the police and produced them before Mallanna,” Giri said.
He alleged that the cops were taken to Mallanna’s chamber, where they were beaten up with lathis and sticks. “On coming to know this, senior police officials along with additional forces rushed to the Q News office and rescued their colleagues,” he said.
The police took Mallanna and four others into custody and registered a case against them under Section 363 (abduction), 342 (wrongful confinement), 395 (dacoity), 332 (voluntarily injuring public servant), 307 R/w 34 (attempt to murder) and Section 7 (1) of Criminal Amendment Act.
