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YSR Congress MLA booked for assaulting a journalist in Andhra’s Nellore
According to the police the case was booked against Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy following a complaint from Dolendra Prasad, editor of Zameen Rythu, a popular vernacular weekly magazine in Nellore.
The police in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district on Monday booked a YSR Congress party MLA for allegedly assaulting a senior journalist a day before.
According to Dargamitta police inspector Nageshwaramma, the case was booked against Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy following a complaint from Dolendra Prasad, editor of Zameen Rythu, a popular vernacular weekly magazine in Nellore.
The cases were filed under Sections 448 (trespassing), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are investigating the case. No arrest has been made so far,” the inspector said.
Prasad told reporters that the MLA, along with three of his followers, barged into his house on Sunday night and entered into a heated argument over publication of a negative report against him.
“The MLA was in an inebriated condition and he abused me using filthy language. He later assaulted me physically and told me he would not care for anybody, including chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, even if I lodge a complaint,” the journalist said.
He alleged that the MLA had been intimidating all journalists in Nellore who wrote negative stories against him. “I even brought his high-handed behaviour to the notice of his party high command. That is why he has developed a grouse against me,” Prasad said.
The MLA, however, denied assaulting the journalist. “I went to his residence only to question about the negative reports against me. It led to heated arguments. There was no intimidation or physical assault,” Reddy told a press conference in Nellore on Monday.
