Journalist leaders came under the Intelligence police scanner, and a scribe was placed under house arrest ahead of the visit of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to Venkatagiri town on July 21 (Friday).
The leaders were planning to submit a representation to Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy to remind him about the house sites he had promised to journalists.
Even as the message was circulated through the media groups on WhatsApp the previous day, Intelligence sources got a scent of it and reached the house of Venkatagiri Press Club secretary Raja Mohan Babu at the strike of dawn.
As Mr. Mohan Babu shared the news, the office-bearers of the Press Club dropped the plan and informed the police about the same.
However, Mr. Mohan Babu was allowed to leave only after the Chief Minister’s programme concluded.
Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) Tirupati district president M. Prasad and secretary P. Narendra condemned the incident as “undemocratic” and said it was tantamount to “meddling with media freedom.”
Meanwhile, the police swooped on Jana Sena Party (JSP) leaders in Srikalahasti, located around 25 km away from the Chief Minister’s public meeting venue, and placed the party’s constituency in-charge K. Vinutha under house arrest.
It was in Srikalahasti that a woman police officer had slapped a JSP activist, forcing party president Pawan Kalyan come all the way to the district to file a complaint.
