BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao booked; Victim was \'identified\'

Hyderabad: BJP M. Raghunandan Rao, who stirred a hornet's nest when he displayed a video of the alleged involvement of the son of an MIM MLA in the May 28 gangrape of a minor girl at Jubilee Hills, was booked by the Abids police following a complaint that he had revealed the identity of the victim.

Advocate Karam Komireddy, who lodged the complaint, stated that the MLA in his June 4 press meet had revealed photographs and video clips of the minor victim holding the MLAs’ son responsible for the gangrape.

The BJP leader said that the registering of a case against him was like 'shooting the messenger'.  He said he was careful not to display, or provide any information pertaining to the victim during his press conference.

It may be recalled that the BJP Dubbak MLA had displayed a video clip shot inside the red Mercedes Benz car, which he said was proof of the MIM MLA's son's involvement in the gangrape incident.

Speaking to mediapersons later, Raghunandan Rao said the registering of a case against him was like 'shooting the messenger'.

He said he was careful not to display, or provide any information, pertaining to the victim during his June 4 press conference.

"DCP Joel Davis declared that the MLA's son was not in the car. All I did was to present evidence to the contrary. How could the DCP declare the innocence of the MLA's son within two hours of a Tweet from minister K.T. Rama Rao, which came within three hours of I holding a press meet," he asked.

"Now the police are talking about including him (the MLA’s son) as A6 or A7 after seeking legal opinion. How is this happening? Why not arrest him as an accused," the MLA said.

Rghunandan Rao then said: "There was no information on the cars used in the crime. There was no information on who were involved. But a clean chit was given to the MLA's son. If the police have registered a case, I am willing to attend the hearings in the court and present my case," he said. In fact, he said, as per provisions under the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014, he should be protected.

"There are several further questions. If the police want to know about the video clip, they should first find out who shot the video in the car. I am certain they have the phones of the accused with them. If so, have they seen the contents on the phones? They should find out why the video was shot, how it went out and got shared," he told Deccan Chronicle.

The case against him, he said, showed where the priorities of the police lay in the case, that of harassing those demanding justice for a minor girl, who is a victim of a gangrape by sons of influential people in the TRS and the AIMIM. On Congress leaders demanding his arrest, he advised that these leaders who had been ministers in the past should instead demand that the culprits be caught and stand up on behalf of the victim, and not protect TRS and MIM leaders.

He said the police had not approached him to inquire about the evidence that was in his possession. "If they do not come, I will wait for a couple of days, and then meet with the DGP and show the evidence. My effort is to seek justice for the victim," he said.

 

"I condemn the case against Raghunandan Rao. This is targeting of the person who showed the evidence that the police ignored, it smacks of the government's deliberate attempts to divert attention from the real crime. Congress leaders have joined hands with the TRS and the MIM to malign the truth. I appeal to the police to at least now do their jobs properly and arrest the culprits in the case."

- D.K. Aruna

BJP vice-president

"If the MLA's son is involved, as per evidence that has been shown so far, he must be arrested under the POCSO Act. We will be assembling at the High Court on Wednesday afternoon to condemn and protest against the atrocities on minor girls and women, failure of law and order, and violation of human rights in Telangana"

- Ravinder Vishwanath

TS BJP Legal Cell convener

"The government by filing cases against Raghunandan Rao is trying to throttle the voices demanding justice for the gangrape victim. The TRS government is filing cases against me. Such threats will not deter us. The BJP will not allow TRS and AIMIM to get away with crimes."

- D. Raja Singh

BJP floor leader