Telangana Prisons DG press meet boycotted

Hyderabad: Tension prevailed at Chanchalguda Jail as the media boycotted a press meet held by the Prisons DG about the HMTV allegations against him, which had stir-red up a controversy among journalists after he compared their behaviour to sex workers.

In a bid to justify his stand, Telangana Director-General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Vinoy Kumar Singh, called a press conference on Monday. However, the conference was called off after the police official was bombarded with repeated questions from the media before he began to speak.

Speaking to this newspaper, the DG said that it had been proved beyond doubt that the alleged wood smuggling, in fact, belonged rightfully to jail warder, Bhaskara Chary for puja purpose. He had bought it for Rs 2,900 from one Kareem, from Goshamahal.

“The Police and Forest Department have cleared the issue and said that the transaction process was legal. Moreover, I had nothing to do with the matter and my name was dragged in by the HMTV reporters for ‘cheap publicity’. The media has played a great role during our struggle for freedom and even in the formation of Telangana state. I have utmost respect for our media and it is only because of such black-sheep and peddlers of lies like HMTV that the media’s name is at stake,” he said.

Corroborating the Prisons DG’s statements, District Forest Officer Venkateshwar said that it was a Prison Warder who had purchased a handful of teak wood, which is worth around Rs 3,000 and he was taking it to Ramagundam, his native place for ornamental beading.

“The bills and documents were totally legitimate and it was a mere handful amount of wood, unlike as reported in the news that it was worth crores and he was smuggling it to Bihar. He had purchased the stack with his own salary and was taking it home, which is totally legal,” the officer concluded.

Singh said that he wanted to start a movement with the hashtag #raisevoice to save the media from such unethical channels and their reporters. “I want to make an appeal to protect honest and committed media professionals, who are suffocated due to unethical, blackmailing ones like HMTV,” he said, adding that if we did not protect journalism, democracy is in danger.

An extortion case has also been filed against the channel with the Government Railway Police of Secunderabad for heckling the genuine purchaser, Bhaskara Chary and trying to extort money from him, the official said.