The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday issued contempt notices to another 44 persons including a YSRCP leader and senior journalists for making remarks that lower the image of judges and the court.

Taking up the issue suo motu, Chief Justice J Maheswari and Justice Praveen Kumar on Friday observed that the interviews, remarks, speeches and postings appear to be part of a conspiracy to scandalise and lower the image of judiciary.

The High Court had issued notices to Anakapalle YSR Congress MLA Gudivada Amarnath, senior journalist and Sakshi TV anchor Kommineni Srinivasa Rao and Prasad Reddy.

The High Court had recently issued contempt notices against 49 people, including Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh and former Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan. The High Court had issued notices to Nandigam Suresh for controversial remarks attributing motives to the court stating that TDP president and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was managing even courts. “Chandrababu Naidu seems to know the High Court verdict 10 minutes in advance. Chandrababu’s call list should be examined to verify if he is involved in the judgement process,” Nandigam Suresh had commented.

YSRCP leader and former Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan found fault with the High Court directive to the CBI to probe the police highhandedness against Dr Sudhakar Rao. The YSRCP leader also remarked that he would have launched an agitation against the court directive but for the lockdown. “If every petty is handed over to the CBI, then the central government should set up a CBI office attached to all the police stations in the state,” he said. The court ordered that contempt notices be sent to the respondents through e-mail, WhatsApp or any other mode and posted the hearing to June 16.