Andhra Pradesh Police on Tuesday night arrested two YouTubers from their homes in Telangana’s Hyderabad over their alleged comments against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, people familiar with the matter said.
The two were identified by the Telangana Police as K Venkatrami Reddy alias KV Reddy, who runs the YouTube channel ‘Myra Media’, and B Joseph, alias Raavan of the ‘Prashna’ channel.
The Andhra Police did not issue an official statement regarding their arrest.
However, Reddy’s wife K Vijaya Lakshmi on Wednesday filed a kidnapping case against a group of unidentified men, saying they entered their house last night, claimed to be Andhra police officers and took away her husband.
“Even if they are from the Andhra Pradesh Police, they are legally obligated to identify themselves, disclose the reasons for the arrest, inform us of the details of the case and produce the arrested person before the local magistrate,” she said. She also requested police protection for her family.
A police officer in Telangana who requested anonymity later confirmed that Reddy was taken away by Andhra Pradesh police.
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“The Bobbili police brought him to Saroornagar police station as part of transit procedures before transferring him to the Andhra Pradesh judicial police station,” the officer said.
According to the officer, Reddy had previously faced legal action. In April, the Badangi police in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district reportedly registered a case against him under the Information Technology Act over his comments against Chandrababu Naidu.
Joseph alias Ravan was detained on Tuesday from his residence in Hyderabad by Andhra Pradesh Police, after a complaint was lodged on June 29 at Pithapuram police station by a man named Pooja Kumar Babu. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against him for his June 28 speech at a Dalitha Kristava Samara Sankharavam (Dalit Christian war cry) meeting in Eluru.
Ravan has been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanheta, including promoting enmity between different groups, intentional insult intended to provoke breach of peace, defamation, organized crime and offenses under the Information Technology Act.
Dalitha Kraisthava Samara Sankharavam demanded Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians. During his speech, Ravan criticized the Andhra CM for allegedly remaining silent on atrocities committed against Dalits and also referred to the alleged caste-related incidents involving Undi MLA and Assembly Vice President K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju.
Ravan also posted a short clip on YouTube on June 30 saying that he received information that a warrant had been issued against him in connection with the speech he made at the meeting.
Telangana Rakshana Sena president K Kavitha described the police action as “despicable” and questioned why the Telangana police cooperated in his arrest while remaining silent on controversial statements made by other public figures. Bharat Rashtra Samithi spokesperson Dasoju Sravan also condemned the actions.
