Chiru, 11 others booked for T trouble

Following the directions of the Nampally Criminal Court, Jubilee Hills police on Wednesday registered a criminal case against Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi and 11 others for being indirectly responsible of abetting students in Telangana to commit suicides through their opposition to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The police registered criminal cases against Mr Chiranjeevi, Allu Aravind, Kotagiri Vidhyadhar rao, Kala Venkata Rao, C Ramachandra rao, Mekala satyanarayana, Shobha Nagireddy, Elamanchili Ravi, G Srinivas, K Subbarayudu, Veda Vyas and T Srimurthulu.

The Court had earlier on May 12 directed the Jubilee Hills police to register a case under Section 306 of the IPC (Abetment to Suicide) and submit a comprehensive report before June 15.

The Court’s directions came after it took up hearing a petition filed by Akula Srinivas (a former PRP leader) and B Narasimha Reddy of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee.

The Court also directed the police to book cases against the 12 persons for `cheating’ Telangana people by allegedly turning back on their earlier position on the separate statehood issue. 

In their petition, the petitioners stated that PRP leaders had extended support to Telangana statehood in 2009 during campaigning for the Assembly elections. 

"However, Mr Chiranjeevi and other PRP leaders later made a U-turn after Centre's December 9, 2009 statement over Telangana and instead supported United Andhra Pradesh. Due to their acts and statements youths from Telangana region committed suicides... besides the people were cheated," the petitioners had complained.