BRS leader remanded to judicial custody in Kodangal incident

Hyderabad, Nov (IANS) A court in Telangana’s Vikarabad district sent Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former MLA Patnam Narender Reddy to judicial custody for 14 days for his alleged involvement in the attack on officials during a public hearing on ‘Pharma Village’ two days ago.

Narender Reddy, who was arrested in Hyderabad on Wednesday morning, was taken to Kodangal, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. After a medical examination, police produced him in a local court, which remanded him to judicial custody till November 27.

The BRS leader was subsequently shifted to Cherlapally Jail.

The arrest was made following an investigation into the attack at Lagacharla village on Monday. The former MLA from Kodangal had reportedly spoken to B. Suresh Raj, who is the main accused in the attack.

Suresh, a leader of the youth wing of BRS in Dudyala Mandal, is still absconding, and four police teams are on the lookout for him.

Vikarabad District Collector Prateek Jain, Additional Collector G. Lingya Naik, and Kodangal Area Development Authority (KADA) Chairman Venkat Reddy were attacked by a mob in Lagacharla village of Dudyala mandal when they were trying to collect the opinion of farmers who are losing their lands in the proposed ‘Pharma village’, a cluster of pharma companies.

According to police, Suresh had reportedly approached the officials when they were conducting a public hearing near Dudyala mandal headquarters and requested them to visit Lagacharla and speak to farmers.

When the officials reached the village, a group of villagers attacked them with stones and sticks. Additional Collector and KADA Chairman were injured in the attack.

Police, which registered three cases, picked up 55 people. After questioning them, police produced 16 of them before a magistrate on Tuesday night. They were remanded to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, police arrested four more persons on Wednesday. They include the sister of the main accused Suresh Raj.

BRS has condemned the arrest of Narender Reddy. Party working president K. T. Rama Rao said the ruling Congress party was blaming the BRS for the ‘people’s revolt’ in the Chief Minister’s constituency.

He wondered if a BRS leader talking to a party worker was a crime. He also denied that Suresh was involved in the attack. Rama Rao said Suresh was only explaining to officials how the farmers would be hit hard by the project.