Justice C. Manavendranath Roy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has ordered that the police should follow the due process of law if any cases are to be registered against Narsapuram MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju during his visit to Bhimavaram to participate in the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Alluri Sitharama Raju being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 3 and 4.
The Judge has refused to give any direction to the State to provide security when adequate security has already been provided by the Central government.
Disposing of a lunch motion petition filed by Mr. Raju on Friday, wherein he prayed for provision of security and an order not to take coercive action in any of the civil / criminal cases registered against him by the State police during his visit to Bhimavaram, Justice Manavendranath Roy said, being a vocal critic of some of the policies of the State government, the MP had an apprehension that he could be arrested in cases likely to be foisted against him.
As per a submission made by the petitioner’s counsel Umesh Chandra P.V.G., 10 criminal cases were registered against the MP earlier in various police stations in the State and, in response to a quash petition filed by him, the High Court had either stayed the proceedings in all the cases, or restrained the police from taking coercive steps.
Therefore, no such further direction could be given in the present instance. The apprehension that more cases might be registered against the MP was imaginary, Justice Roy observed.
Assistant Solicitor General of India appeared for the Union of India while Advocate-General S. Sriram appeared for the State.
