Several hours of high drama was witnessed at Siddipet and Dubbak on Monday among police, BJP and TRS activists. Police arrested BJP State president Bandi Sanjay on the outskirts of Siddipet stating that his entry into the town was likely to lead to tensions. He was forcibly sent away to Karimnagar.
In a related development, BJP leaders G. Vivek and Jitender Reddy were arrested and sent back to Hyderabad.
It all started around noon when some police personnel reached the house of Ramgopal Rao, father-in-law of BJP candidate in Dubbak bye-election M. Raghunandan Rao, at Lecturers Colony in Siddipet town. The police also claimed that they conducted raids on houses of eight persons and seized as much as ₹ 18.65 lakh cash. The police also stated that they conducted raids on the residence of TRS leader and Municipal chairman K. Rajanarsu and could not find any amount.
According to information, BJP workers confronted a police personnel, when he was found moving in a “suspicious manner” and found that he was allegedly carrying money in a bag. They alleged that the bag was brought from a neighbouring house. BJP workers charged the police with trying to plant the cash bag at the residence of BJP leaders only to implicate them in election-related cases.
Though police claimed that they have seized the amount from BJP leaders, party activists said that police came with the money and tried to plant it in house of Mr. Ramgopal Rao. They even recorded police coming with money bag and tried to overpower the police and seize the bag. At one video that went viral on social media a party worker is seen snatching the money from the police and showing it to the camera. Hectic activity was witnessed at the residence of Mr. Ramgopal Rao for sometime.
Meanwhile Police Commissioner Joel Davis has alleged that an amount of ₹ 5.87 lakh from ₹ 18.65 lakh at the house of relative of Raghunandan Rao was stolen by unidentified persons and it was recorded. He said all the culprits would be identified and be arrested shortly.