Conflicting reports are surfacing over the whereabouts of YSR Congress party MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy from Macherla assembly constituency in Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh, even as Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta said the police are on the lookout for him in connection with the EVM destruction case.
A video of the MLA entering the polling station (No. 202) at Palwaigate village along with his followers, breaking the EVM unit by banging it on the floor and damaging the VVPAT machine, surfaced on Tuesday night and went viral on social media.
The ECI took serious note of the incident and sought an explanation from state chief electoral officer M K Meena. It also called for a report from the DGP, seeking to know what action had been taken against the MLA.
The ECI directed that the DGP take a criminal action against the MLA in this incident and also against those who involved in similar incidents of damaging the EVMs in other places.
A section of media has reported that the Andhra Pradesh police have arrested Pinnelli from a farmhouse at Isnapur near Patancheru on the outskirts of Hyderabad in the evening, another section of media said the MLA might have fled the country.
“Pinnelli gave a slip to the police and left for a foreign country which doesn’t require a Visa, even before the lookout notice was circulated to all the airports,” a media report said.
Chief Electoral Office M K Meena told reporters that the Andhra police had gone to Hyderabad on Tuesday night itself and raided the house of the accused there, but he was not there.
“The police are also trying to locate him by using his mobile number, but he turned off his mobile. Still, the police are searching for the accused through their own methods. The DGP informed that they would arrest the accused very shortly,” the CEO said.
In fact, Pinnelli had allegedly absconded from Macherla while he was under house arrest, and was reportedly staying in Hyderabad since then. Hence, the AP police conducted search operations in Hyderabad with the help of their Telangana counterparts, the CEO said.
Meena said that Pinnelli’s name was not included in the accused list in the initial First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Station House Officer concerned, though the video footage clearly showed his involvement.
“Though the incident had happened on May 13, the police booked Ramakrishna Reddy only on May 20 as the Investigation Officer was transferred after the poll violence,” Meena said.
The MLA was booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting by use of force), 448 (criminal trespassing), 427 (mischief by causing damage), 353 (criminal force to assault a public servant), 452 (trespass to cause hurt and wrongfully restrain) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, besides Sections 131 and 135 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, 1984.