Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), 12 July

Andhra Pradesh police registered an "attempt to murder" case against former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, two senior IPS officers and two retired officials, following a complaint lodged by a TDP MLA, an official said on Friday. The complaint was lodged by the ruling party's Undi MLA K Raghurama Krishna Raju.

Besides Reddy, police booked senior IPS officers PV Sunil Kumar and PSR Sitaramanjaneyulu and retired police officer R Vijay Paul and former Guntur Government General Hospital superintendent G Prabhavati, the official said. Vijay Paul and Prabhavati have superannuated. "Raju sent his police complaint through mail one month ago and after taking legal opinion, I registered a case at 7 pm on Thursday against the former CM and others," the official told PTI. Raju, a former MP, also alleged that he was subjected to "custodial torture," the official added.

Police booked the five accused persons under IPC Sections 120 B, 166, 167, 197, 307, 326, 465 and 506 read with 34. Police invoked the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as the case is three years old. The case was booked at Nagarampalem police station in Guntur.

TDP leader Raju's 2021 arrest case came to the fore in Andhra Pradesh after he lodged a complaint against Reddy and some officials over it on 10 June. He accused the former CM and the senior officials of "plotting" a criminal "conspiracy" against him.

Raju, 62, alleged in his complaint that senior IPS officers Sunil Kumar and Sitaramanjaneyulu, police officer Vijaya Paul and government doctor Prabhavathi were part of that "conspiracy." He was arrested in May, 2021 in the middle of the Covid-19 second wave.

"A false case was registered against me by the CB-CID of the Andhra Pradesh government. On May 14, 2021, I was arrested without due process, I was bullied, unlawfully physically pulled inside the police vehicle, and forcibly taken to Guntur the same night," Raju alleged in the complaint.

When Raju was arrested, Kumar was heading the CID, Sitaramanjaneyulu the Intelligence wing, Paul was ASP CID and Reddy was the CM.

The MLA said though he had undergone an open heart surgery "some weeks" before his arrest, Raju claimed he was abused. Also, he alleged there were threats to kill him for "criticising the chief minister (Jagan)." "I was arrested without due process, including the absence of a medical examination or adherence to proper legal procedures...I was kept in the CB-CID office, Guntur from 9:30 pm onwards (May 14, 2021). I was not given my medicine despite having had an open heart bypass surgery," Raju, who was an YSRCP MP from Narasapuram, claimed.

Raju also alleged that when the Magistrate had sent him to Guntur Government General Hospital, the then superintendent of the hospital, Prabhavathi, had colluded with Sunil Kumar to create false medical reports that no injuries were inflicted on his person. "Due to police brutality, I was shifted from Guntur to Secunderabad Army Hospital by the orders of the Supreme Court and thereafter I was granted bail by the Supreme Court," said Raju. The bail came a week later.

Among other allegations, he demanded that a case be registered against all the accused persons and said in his complaint that "these criminal offences must be addressed promptly and justice be done."

For several months preceding his arrest, Raju was accused of abusing the then CM Jagan Mohan Reddy on a daily basis through select media houses from Delhi and Hyderabad.

Reacting to the FIR filed against him, Sunil Kumar wondered how a "new FIR" can be filed in a three-year-old case "rejected" by the Supreme Court. "I leave it to your wisdom to understand how an FIR can be filed anew in a case that has already been dismissed by the Supreme Court after three years of proceedings," Sunil Kumar said in a social media post.