Advocate General (AG) Dammalapati Srinivas argued his case in the High Court on Friday, alleging that the illegal arrest of actress Kadambari Jethwani was part of a conspiracy hatched from the former Chief Minister's Office (CMO). He accused senior police officials of being key participants in this scheme and underlined the need for custodial interrogation to bring out the involvement of the CMO. AG Srinivas argued that by giving anticipatory bail to such top officers who are expected to follow the law and violated the same, the order would give a wrong signal in society. He asked for rejection of the petition of the petitioners.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Justice VRK Kripasagar reserving order has adjourned it for December 19 in which lawyers of Jethwani and petitioners were allowed to submit arguments further. Meanwhile, the court passed interim orders to restrain immediate actions against the petitioners. Based on Jethwani's complaint of harassment and for false case filed against her, the Ibrahimpatnam police had filed a case. High-ranking police officers in the form of IPS Kantirana Thatha and Vishal Gunni have sought anticipatory bail with regard to these accusations.
AG Srinivas claimed that the arrest of Jethwani was orchestrated even before a complaint was formally filed. He pointed out that the Vijayawada Police Commissioner, Kantirana Tata, delayed relieving IPS officer Vishal Gunni from duty in Vijayawada, intending for him to oversee the arrest upon his return from Mumbai. According to AG Srinivas, this suggests a calculated plan.
In her complaint against Jethwani filed on February 2 by YSRCP leader Kukkala Vidyasagar, he claimed that she had tried to sell his land using fabricated documents. But AG Srinivas countered that the tickets for Mumbai were made a day before the lodging of the complaint. According to him, Vishal Gunni and other officials had arrived at the airport of Mumbai precisely when the case was lodged. That proves the pre-meditated conspiracy.
Lawyers Vasireddy Prabhunath and Narra Srinivasa Rao, advocating for Jethwani claimed that it was the role of the then Director General of Intelligence, Seetharamanjaneyu, who enabled the unlawful arrest. On verbal instructions, he made his way to Mumbai and arrested Jethwani and her family without due legal process. The defense claimed that many senior police officers, as well as field-level constables of the Intelligence Department right from its leadership, were parties to this case. Suffice to say that material evidence vindicated these claims.
The petitioners' advocates, S. Sriram, and Vinod Kumar Deshpande, opposed it by saying that the other case against Jethwani was a result of a complaint made by Vidyasagar in February regarding land forgery. They said that making another case based on this complaint without completing the initial investigation was invalid. Moreover, they emphasized that Vidyasagar, who is the main accused, has already received bail and sought similar relief for the petitioners also.
