Bandi Sanjay in 14-day judicial custody

WARANGAL: BJP Telangana state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar, after being arrested on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday for his alleged role in the SSC Hindi question paper leak, was lodged in 14-day judicial custody at the Karimnagar sub-jail.

The entire episode, starting with Sanjay Kumar’s arrest around 12.45 am on Wednesday from his in-laws’ residence in Jyothinagar of Karimnagar and subsequent police action to thwart BJP members’ efforts to cause a furore, was akin to the plotline of a political thriller movie.

Sanjay was at his in-laws’ residence on Tuesday to attend the ninth-day rites of his recently deceased mother-in-law. While he was about to dine at night, a 40-member police team led by ACP T. Srinivas entered the residence and asked Sanjay to accompany them.

They informed him that they were placing him in preventive arrest over the SSC Class 10 Hindi question paper leak, following which his family members and followers blocked passage to the police.

After a 15-minute struggle, the police forcibly shifted him to their vehicle and ferried him to the Bommalaramaram police station under the Rachakonda commissionerate of Hyderabad, where Sanjay Kumar spent the night.

On Wednesday morning, he was handed over to the Warangal police, but not without drama.

The police covered the windows of the vehicle Sanjay Kumar was travelling in, moved towards Bhongir and then took a detour towards Warangal. Upon reaching Station Ghanpur, they diverted the convoy towards Palakurthy of Jangaon district to get his medical tests done at the Palakurthy government hospital.

However, BJP activists, upon learning of the police detours and Sanjay Kumar’s arrival at Palakurthy, gheraoed the government hospital and staged a protest in front of the police convoy. The police, however, tackled the crowd and moved Bandi Sanjay to Wardhannapet.

But, facing strong resistance from the BJP contingent here, the police diverted their vehicles to Jafargadh and then to the Police Training Centre in Mamnoor.

While he was being transported to the principal magistrate court in Hanamkonda, BRS activists who were staging a protest at Adalath Circle followed the convoy, hurling slippers and throwing eggs at the vehicles. Some even climbed atop the vehicles and travelled until they reached the court complex, around 4.15 pm.

The police personnel deployed at the court intervened and brought the situation under control by detaining the BRS activists.

Earlier in the day, a large contingent of BJP’s women activists reached the Warangal Court Complex after learning that the police officials would be producing Bandi Sanjay in the district court.

As the police tried to disperse the crowd, a heated argument ensued, following which the police placed the BJP members under preventive custody in nearby police stations.