UAPA cases lifted on Haragopal, 5 others after KCR's directive

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday directed Director General of Police (DGP) Anjani Kumar to withdraw the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against civil liberties activist Prof. Haragopal and 152 others.

The DGP asked Mulugu superintendent of police (SP) Gaush Alam to consider withdrawing the FIR pertaining to the case. Hours later, Alam announced that the police had lifted cases against six persons — Prof. Haragopal, Padmaja Shah, V. Raghunath, Gaddam Laxman, Gunti Ravinder and Suresh Kumar. The Mulugu police will file a memo in court on the matter.

The FIR was registered in 2022, the first time it was done in Telangana. It came to light only recently, when the police were opposing the bail petition of a person in court.

In its 52-page FIR copy, the Tadvai police said that it was based on a complaint by a police personne, V. Shankar, on August 19, 2022, regarding an assembly of Maoist leaders.

CPI national secretary Narayana welcomed the Chief Minister's decision to withdraw the UAPA case.

In his reaction, Prof. Haragopal said that the police had lifted UAPA cases against six persons whereas the others were also innocent. He urged the state government to lift the cases against all remaining 146 persons, who belong to poor families.