The Hyderabad Police on Thursday booked Congress leader and former Union Minister Renuka Chowdhury and 200 others for gathering "unlawfully" to conduct a protest near V.V. Statue in Khairthabad of Telangana.
The Congress had given a "Chalo Raj Bhavan" call and Telangana Congress held a massive protest here today over the ED investigating Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. Several Congress workers and leaders were detained by the police, and in an attempt to avoid detention Chowdhury was seen engaging in a heated argument with a policeman as she held his collar, earlier in the day.
On the complaint of the "assaulted" Sub-Inspector (SI) S. Upender Babu of PS Panjagutta, the police have registered the cases against Renuka Chowdhury and others under sections 143, 145, 147, r/w 149, 152, 153, 353, 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
Notably, with the latest registered case, as many as three cases have been registered against the former Union Minister.
In the complaint, the SI stated, "At about 1100 hours under the leadership of A.Revanth Reddy, MP and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Anil Kumar Yadav, Congress Youth president MLA Jagga Reddy, MLA M. Batti Vikramarka, MLA D.Sridhar Babu, Ex-MP Mallu Ravi, TPCC Mahila President Sunitha Rao and around 200 others were unlawfully assembled near V.V.Statue in Khairthabad. The officers who were present on 'bandobast' at V.V.Statue gave orders for dispersing as it was unlawful assembly gathered without any prior permission from the concerned authorities. But the Congress leaders and cadre did not pay heed to the orders and continued to stay there and when the call was given by Congress' Revanth Reddy, the gathering became violent and started pelting stones and breaking the window panes of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) buses and also deflated the tyres of the RTC buses. They also set fire to one motorcycle on the X roads. All the pickets posted were alerted to be vigilant and not to allow any congress leaders or cadre towards Raj Bhawan and to take the leaders and cadre into preventive custody so as to prevent them from causing further damage to any public property."
He further said that at about 01.15 PM, he observed Chowdhury stopping her car near the Metro Residency building at Khairthabad and getting down along with five other woman congress workers.
"I immediately alerted all the men (police officials) especially woman constables to be alert and as soon as Chowdhury moved towards Raj Bhawan, we pulled the barricades across the road and stood guard to prevent her from going towards Raj Bhawan. As she approached near the barricade I told her to disperse as there is no permission to go towards Raj Bhawan. Immediately she became angry and started threatening us to make way. And as per the instructions of senior officers, the woman force was ordered to take her into custody and they stood around them. While the woman police constables (PCs) were taking Chowdhury into custody by taking her to the vehicle, she started resisting and rushed towards me by pushing the woman PCs, she assaulted me and held my collar and started abusing...," he said.
Following the incident, Chowdhury along with woman congress workers was immediately taken into custody and was shifted from that place.The case is being investigated.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Chowdhury clarified the incident by saying, "I know how to respect the uniform, my intention is not to humiliate the police...They were pushing me, I have a problem with my leg. I was losing my balance so I fell on him like that. I don't know that young man, ofcourse I'll apologise to that man. But I expect Police to apologise to me for manhandling us. Why were there so many men Police around us?"
( With inputs from ANI )
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