Hyderabad: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of getting a non-bailable case filed against his son Bhagirath to attempt to silence him.
“The incident happened some time ago. Why was it leaked today? Is it because I questioned the Chief Minister’s son for calling Yadadri temple development a business-like investment that is bringing returns every day. Or is it to divert attention from the opposition to the state’s decision on giving undue honours to the descendant of the Nizams for whose funeral the state is going overboard,” Sanjay said.
The police had booked Bhagirath over a video in which he is seen assaulting a classmate. However, Sanjay was unmoved.
“What will you do then? Use third degree on my son?” Sanjay said, adding his son will surrender to the police.
The BJP leader said that youngsters, sometimes, fight and get back to being friends. He claimed that the alleged victim also put out a video accepting that he had made a mistake and that there was no need to make an issue of the fight.
“The case was filed after the university, where my son is a student, came under pressure from the government to lodge a complaint. And why did the college not bring the incident to the notice of the parents, and why the college authorities did not counsel the students?” Sanjay asked.
“If the Chief Minister wants, he can play politics with me. Leave the children out of it. When his grandson was caught in a controversy and people were making adverse comments on the boy, I intervened and declared that children must be left out of politics,” Sanjay said.
Sanjay’s comments came after the Dundigal police registered a case against Bhagirath on charges of assaulting his classmate over a petty issue. The police said that the incident took place in the university hostel in December 2022 and came to their notice after the video went viral on Tuesday, prompting the college to file a police complaint.
Dundigal police inspector P. Ramana Reddy said a case was registered. “We have started an investigation into the incident,” he said.
In the video, Bhagirath and his friends are seen beating a classmate, raining fist blows and abusing him in vulgar language.
The police said that they will summon the students and hostel staff for questioning once the university reopens after vacations.
Later in the day, another video was circulated in which a person identifying himself as Sriram claimed that he has harassed Bhagirath's friend's sister and sent her messages at nights and troubled her. "After knowing this, Bhagirath called me, but as I was rude, he beat him. It is a past. We are all friends and together now. We have forgotten the incident," Sriram is heard saying in the video.
Terming the Bhagirath video as useless, he asked, “Why is the video being circulated? It will only create differences between us, when we have forgotten the issue and are in good terms. It is of no use,” he is heard saying.
