Vijayawada: Four suspects were taken into custody for questioning by the police in the case related to attack on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his Memantha Siddham Bus Yatra on Saturday. A rowdy sheeter was among them.
Police announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for information leading to the arrest of the assailant. The police announced two numbers - of DCP Srinivasa Rao - 9490619342 and ADCP Taskforce 9440627089 - to enable the public share information on the culprits.
Police have confirmed that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was hit by a stone at a great force from the left side under the cover of darkness and heavy crowd surge at about 8.04 pm on April 13.
An unidentified person targeted the CM when the Memantha Siddham Bus Yatra was proceeding from Varadhi towards Kesarapalli.
Reconstructing the scenario, the city police commissioner K.R. Tata told the media here on Monday that a man pelted a stone he held in his palm near the Ganganamma temple. It hit the CM when he was atop the bus gesturing to the people with folded hands. The injury happened to the CM just above the left eyebrow. “The stone went further and hit the eye of YSRC leader Vellampalli Srinivas, who was next to the CM, and he fell down.”
The police examined nearly 24 CCTV footages, 50-60 mobile phone video recordings, eyewitness accounts etc from the spot. “We sent the CCTV footage to the FSL for more clarity. Though the Clues team arrived at the spot immediately, they could not find the stone because of the presence of nearly 5,000 to 6,000 people there. The area was in darkness and there was rainfall a bit earlier.
The commissioner said, “We rounded up 50 to 60 persons having history of crime for questioning. It however is not clear who did the stone-pelting.”
He said, “I am sure of nabbing the culprit very soon as we have got strong evidence and leads in the case.”
“We are yet to see the possibility of use of a catapult or an air gun in the process and also to ascertain whether the attack was pre-planned.”
Based on a complaint from Vellampalli, a case was booked under Section 307 of IPC.
He rejected the criticism of power outage during the CM’s tour. “As part of security protocol, some overhead power transmission lines and cable wires were removed for safety reasons to avoid any trouble to the CM when he stood atop the bus. Power supply was stopped as a standard practice for VIP security.”
The 22-km stretch of the CM’s bus yatra from Varadhi to Kesarapalli was secured by nearly 1,480 police personnel and various other teams including 20 rope parties and four platoons of APSP, 10 anti-sabotage parties and other personnel, including the CP himself to ensure protection to the CM. “There was no security lapse,” he stated.
