Ex-Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy booked in attempt to murder case

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was booked in connection with an attempt to murder case on Friday, following a complaint lodged by ruling party Undi MLA K Raghurama Krishna Raju. The state police have also booked two senior IPS officers and two retired officials based on the complaint.

“Raju sent his police complaint through mail one month ago, and after taking legal opinion, I registered a case at 7 pm on Thursday against the former CM and others,” an official told PTI.

The police also booked senior IPS officers PV Sunil Kumar and PSR Sitaramanjaneyulu, retired police officer R Vijay Paul, and former Guntur Government General Hospital superintendent G Prabhavati. 

Sunil Kumar headed the CID in 2021, while Sitaramanjaneyulu led the Intelligence wing, and Vijay Paul served as ASP CID.

The TDP lawmaker was arrested in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly faced “custodial torture”. 

Raju filed a complaint against Reddy and other officials on June 10, claiming that he had been nabbed without due process and “unlawfully physically pulled inside the police vehicle.”

“A false case was registered against me by the CB-CID of the Andhra Pradesh government. I was arrested without due process on May 14, including the absence of a medical examination or adherence to proper legal procedures. I was bullied, unlawfully physically pulled inside the police vehicle, and forcibly taken to Guntur the same night. I was kept in the CB-CID office, Guntur, from 9:30 pm onwards. I was not given my medicine despite having had an open heart bypass surgery,” wrote the former YSRCP Lok Sabha MP Krishna Raju in the complaint.

He said that he had also faced death threats for “criticising the chief minister”.

The development also comes mere weeks after Reddy clashed with newly elected Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu following the demolition of the under-construction YSRCP central office in Tadepalli.

"Chandrababu took vendetta politics to the next level. Like a dictator, he got YSRCP's central office demolished with excavators and bulldozers, which was almost complete," Reddy had accused in a social media post.

He also claimed that the demolition was carried out in complete disregard of High Court orders.

(With inputs from agencies)