Congress war room raid: Telangana HC orders action against police

Hyderabad, Oct 16:  The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the Hyderabad Police Commissioner to take action against police officials responsible for detention of three volunteers from Congress war room here during a raid in December last year.

It directed the Commissioner to initiate action against the officials for acting in violation of rules.

The court order came on a habeas corpus petition filed by senior Congress leader Mallu Ravi.

Counsel for the petitioner had told the court that the three persons were kept in illegal custody for 18 hours and released after a habeas corpus petition was filed.

He had sought orders to the police to pay compensation of Rs.20 lakh to each of the detained for illegal custody.

The police had raided the Telangana Congress war room run by the party's poll strategist, Sunil Kanugolu for allegedly making defamatory comments about Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and posting the same on social media platforms.

The police had later issued notice under the 41A CrPC notices in connection with the case booked by the cyber crime wing against them under Indian Penal Code's sections 505-B and 469 for making defamatory videos by morphing photos.

On the pleas of Ishank Sharma, Prashant Taineni and Manda Sripratap, the High Court stayed the notices.