In a big relief to senior IPS officer and former intelligence chief of Andhra Pradesh A B Venkateshwara Rao, the state high court on Thursday issued an directed that the state government not take any action to arrest him in any case for now.
The high court issued an interim order to this effect and posted the case to January 18. Senior advocate Adinarayana Rao, who appeared for Venkateshwara Rao brought to the notice of the court that the government was trying to fabricate him in another case.
He said the government was planning to arrest Rao during the week-ends so that he would get suspended from the job for being in judicial custody for more than 48 hours.
Representing the government, Advocate General argued that there was no merit in the argument of the petitioner, as no case had been filed against the IPS officer and so, there was no question of any arrest.
In his petition, Rao alleged that the government was resorting to witch-hunting and damaging his image in public life through a hate campaign, though there was no merit in the case filed against him.
He pointed out that on February 8, when the government issued suspension orders, the CMO circulated a six-page note to local and national media making scandalous allegations against him without any basis and the same carried as the government’s version in the media.
Rao pointed out that none of those allegations found a place in the articles of charge served after 10 months of ‘enquiry.’
He said the government was AB pointed out how targeted individuals are being arrested under false charges.
“It is registering FIR a few minutes before the arrest, which is being done on weekends. Since being in judicial remand for more than 48 hours entails automatic suspension, the government is misusinig the law to settle personal scores,” he alleged.
