Visakhapatnam, Nov 3 Andhra Pradesh police on Thursday arrested senior TDP leader and former minister Ayyanna Patrudu on allegations of alleged encroachment and forgery.
Officials of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested him from his residence in Narsipatnam town in Anakapalli district in the early hours of Thursday. His son Rajesh was also taken into custody. They were shifted to the CID office in Visakhapatnam.
Family members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader said about 200 policemen reached the house around 3 a.m. Some of them scaled the wall to enter the house after pasting the arrest notice at the gate. There was tension as the TDP leader and his family members entered into an argument with the police officials and questioned their action of barging into the house
On learning about the arrest, a large number of TDP leaders and workers reached the party leader's house and lodged their protest. They raised slogans against the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
The TDP leaders questioned the police on treating the former minister and his son like thieves.
The former minister and his son were arrested on allegations of submitting a false document to the high court on demolition of his house by the municipal authorities in Narsipatnam.
The police had registered a case against them for forgery and encroachment under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Ayyanna Patrudu's wife Padmavati alleged that the policemen acted with highhandedness as they did not even allow him to change the clothes. She said the YSRCP government had been targeting the family for the last three years. She said that if something happens to her husband and son, the government would be responsible.
Meanwhile, anticipating protests by the TDP in Visakhapatnam, police took several party leaders into preventive custody. They included Visakhapatnam East MLA V.Ramakrishna Babu.
In June this year, the municipal authorities in Narsipatnam had demolished an alleged unauthorised boundary wall at the residence of the TDP leader.
Patrudu, a member of TDP politburo, is a bitter critic of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. In February, he was booked for abusive and derogatory comments against the chief minister.
Last month, Patrudu's other son Vijay was booked by the CID for allegedly posting fake news against the chief minister's wife Y. S. Bharathi.
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