Amaravati, May 1 (IANS) A court in Guntur on Friday granted bail to former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s aide Pudi Srihari in a case relating to allegedly abusive social media post against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Srihari, who is YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) General Secretary (Media Department) and former Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) to Jagan Mohan Reddy, was re-arrested late on Thursday night hours after he was granted bail by a court in Kuppam town.

A team from Kothapeta in Guntur district arrested him in Kuppam and brought him to Kothapeta police station, where a separate FIR was registered against him on the same allegations.

This was the third time Srihari was arrested in two weeks.

The police action evoked strong condemnation from the YSRCP, which accused the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led coalition government of political vendetta.

Tension prevailed at Guntur government hospital as police stopped YSRCP MLC Lella Appireddy from meeting Srihari, who was brought for check-up before his production in the court

The Guntur court later granted bail to Srihari, who is also a journalist.

He alleged that the TDP-led coalition government is treating journalism as an ‘organised crime’.

Srihari said he never set foot in a police station or court but he has been arrested multiple times within two weeks.

He added that that he has done no wrong and therefore has no fear.

Addressing the media at the YSRCP office in Guntur along with party leaders, Srihari expressed deep anguish over the series of arrests and cases against him over the past two weeks, despite a spotless 26-year career in journalism.

He said that portraying media coordination work as a criminal syndicate is alarming and dangerous for democratic functioning.

YSRCP General Secretary (Legal), Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, termed the incident a battle between constitutional values and misuse of power, questioning how a person can be arrested multiple times for the same alleged offence.

He said that courts have repeatedly rejected remand attempts and intervened against unconstitutional actions.

Srihari was first arrested on April 15 in Vijayawada in the case registered against him over making objectionable social media posts with morphed images of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

He was subsequently shifted to Kuppam, where the case was registered against him and another YSRCP functionary Girish Kumar Reddy.

Srihari was produced before the trial court on April 16. He was released after the court rejected the petition by the police to send him to judicial remand.

Later, the Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended the order of the trial court.

After the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the High Court order, Kuppam police again arrested Srihari in Bengaluru on April 29. He was brought to Kuppam, where he was produced before a court on April 30.

–IANS

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