A day after the Telangana high court rejecting his petition for anticipatory bail in the case related to assaulting of a TV9 channel reporter at his residence three days ago, the Rachakonda police on Saturday questioned senior Tollywood actor and former Rajya Sabha member Manchu Mohan Babu.
A team of police officials from Pahadishareef police station went to the residence of Mohan Babu at Jalpalli in Rangareddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad for questioning him about his involvement in the attack on the journalist.
Initially, Mohan Babu refused to talk to the police stating that he was not well and asked them to come after a few days when he recovers. However, the police refused to go back and asked him cooperate in their investigation.
After questioning him for over an hour, the police recorded his statement on the incident. They also asked him to surrender his weapon as per the earlier notice served on him on December 11.
On Tuesday night, Mohan Babu assaulted the television channel reporter, when the latter, along with other reporters, went to his residence to cover an ongoing dispute between him and his younger son Manchu Manoj.
The reporter suffered bleeding injuries and was rushed to hospital, where he underwent surgery.
On Wednesday, the Pahadishareef police booked a case against Mohan Babu, based on a complaint from the injured reporter, under Section 118 (1) (voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons or substances) of the BNS.
A day later, the police modified the FIR by adding Section 109 (attempt to murder) of the BNS, citing the severity of the alleged assault.
Realising that the issue was turning out to be serious, Mohan Babu approached the state high court seeking anticipatory bail on Thursday.
However, the high court bench headed by Justice K Laxman, which heard the arguments on Friday, dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of the veteran actor.
While refusing to grant immediate relief, the court issued notices to the state of Telangana and other authorities, directing them to file responses by December 19.