Palamuru \'kidnappings\' raise TS political heat

HYDERABAD: Series of 'kidnappings' in Mahbubnagar recently seems to have raised political heat in the state. As many as nine persons went missing from Mahbubnagar over the past week. Interestingly, all these missing persons are linked to filing cases against minister V. Srinivas Goud, who represents Mahbubnagar Assembly seat, in courts and with Election Commission (EC) stating that the minister had resorted to tampering with his election affidavit on EC website. A few others who went missing were fighting against the alleged land encroachments and other irregularities committed by the minister and his family members.

These kidnappings even spread to Delhi when four staffers of former Mahbubnagar MP and BJP leader A.P. Jithender Reddy were abducted on Wednesday. Curiously, these kidnappings happened when Goud was in Delhi. The minister accompanied Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to Delhi on February 28 and staying there since then.

The kidnap was captured on CCTV cameras installed at Jithender Reddy's house in Delhi. Based on a complaint from Reddy's PA, the Delhi police started investigations. The kidnap victims included Reddy’s driver in Delhi Thapa and Munnuru Ravi from Mahbubnagar, who had moved the court as well as the EC alleging Goud had fabricated his election affidavit.

Opposition parties are strongly demanding sacking of Goud from the Cabinet, holding him responsible for these kidnappings with the help of the police, misusing his position as minister.

BJP national vice president D.K. Aruna, who hails from Mahbubnagar district, said, "It's shocking that the minister is misusing police force and using them for kidnappings. Enquiries with the family members of kidnapped persons clearly revealed that the SOT (special
operation team) of police have abducted them. Their arrests were not shown for days. Later, false cases were fabricated against them saying that police took them into custody for hatching a conspiracy to kill the minister and his brother. All this is done to bring pressure on victims to withdraw cases against the minister."

Aruna alleged that the minister and his family members were indulging in large scale encroachment of government and private lands in Mahbubnagar and whoever questioned them was being assaulted and implicated in false cases. She said the BJP was organising a huge protest programme on March 8 in Mahbubnagar against the misdeeds of Goud and his family members.

It all started from February 23 when one Nagaraju was abducted. Later, two persons, Viswanath and Yadaiah, went missing on February 24. Later, Amarender Raju, Anwar, Kishan Pawar, Varada Bhaskar, Sridhar, Mahesh Yadav, Sudhakar, Venkatesh, Srinivas Raju and Madhusudhan Raju were abducted. Raghavendra Raju also went missing.

Later, the police filed FIR against Nagaraju, Vishwanath, Yadaiah and Raghavendra Raju. Raghavendra Raju had earlier filed a case in Delhi High Court and also with the EC against Goud on tampering with election affidavit.

Meanwhile, TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy demanded dismissal of Srinivas Goud from the Cabinet. "The fact that the kidnappings happened in Delhi when Goud is staying with the Chief Minister in Delhi proves that Goud has CM's backing in his illegal dealings. If not, the Chief Minister should immediately sack him from his Cabinet and order an inquiry into the issue," Reddy said.

However, Srinivas Goud was not available for comment.