Vizag court rejects remand for TDP leader

Visakhapatnam: A city court on Thursday refused to remand senior TDP leader and former minister Ayyanna Patrudu on allegations of alleged encroachment and forgery.

Officials of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), who arrested him from his residence in Narsipatnam town in Anakapalli district in the early hours of Thursday, presented him in Visakhapatnam Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

Patrudu's lawyer argued that the police arrested him in violation of the rules. After hearing arguments of both sides, the judge rejected the police petition to send him to judicial custody.

The court also ruled that section 467 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not apply to the case. It directed the police to issue notice under section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code and take

Ayyanna Patrudu and his son Rajesh were arrested from their residence in Narsipatnam in the early hours of the day. They were shifted to Visakhapatnam.

A lunch motion petition was moved in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the arrests. The petitioner alleged that the case registered against him was politically motivated.

The high court, however, refused to pass interim orders and directed that case diary be placed in the court on Friday.

The TDP leader's arrest had triggered state-wide protests by the opposition parties. TDP president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had condemned the arrests and alleged that the YSRCP government was resorting to state terrorism.

After the Visakhapatnam rejected remand for Patrudu, Naidu hailed the judgment. He said that justice has prevailed.