Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has strongly objected to the arrest of two social media activists by the Prakasam district police in the aftermath of reports in Tamil Nadu about Rs. 5.27 Cr seized from a car with AP Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy’s sticker. In a letter to Prakasam SP here, Mr. Naidu condemned the harassment and ‘unlawful’ arrest of Vadella Sandeep Kumar and Thottempudi Chandrasekhar by the Ongole Rural police. They were subjected to physical torture and manhandling, while the FIR was not registered for over 24 hours.

The TDP chief said that on July 14, all news channels across Tamil Nadu aired reports about seizure of money from the car with the AP Minister’s sticker. The same was published in Tamil newspapers too.The same news was even telecast in Telugu channels and was reported widely in Telugu newspapers too. It appears that the above money was caught by Tamil Nadu police, while it passed through the check posts in Andhra Pradesh undetected.

Mr. Naidu said that after the money seizure issue flared up, the police arrested Sandeep, Ongole, and Chandrasekhar, Naidupalem village, Tanguturu Mandal, in the name of making some posts on social media. While arresting them, the police have grossly violated their basic right for freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Also, they were put to physical torture and manhandling by moving them between three different police stations. Finally, their arrest was shown on July 16 at 1 p.m, while FIR was not filed till evening of July 17.

The TDP chief told the SP that this was inhuman, barbarous and uncivilised which needs to be condemned. It is pertinent to investigate and initiate severe action against the erring police officials for physically torturing and manhandling Sandeep and Chandrasekhar. A thorough investigation should be conducted to deliver justice to the aggrieved in accordance with the law.