Telangana Jagruthi president and former MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who resigned from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Wednesday following her suspension, has dragged her cousin and former MP Joginapalli Santosh Kumar into controversy with a sensational allegation.
Addressing reporters, Kavitha recalled a 2017 incident in Nerella village, Siricilla district, where a Dalit man was crushed under the wheels of a tractor-trailer illegally transporting sand.
The tragedy sparked a road blockade by villagers, who accused Santosh of running an illegal sand mafia. In protest, locals set fire to several sand lorries after the accident.
Following the incident, police allegedly detained Dalit and BC youth and subjected them to severe torture, a case that drew nationwide outrage at the time.
Kavitha alleged that Santosh directly interfered in the case: “Santosh, who was always with KCR, called the police from the Chief Minister’s Office and ensured that around eight more Dalits were dragged to the police station and brutally beaten. He was receiving money from the sand mafia,” she claimed.
Within hours of Kavitha’s allegations, victims of the Nerella torture case lodged a complaint at the Tangallapalli police station against Santosh, demanding that cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act be filed against him.
It remains unclear whether the police will register a case based on the complaint.
However, Kavitha’s remarks have already triggered a political storm, and if the issue snowballs into a larger agitation, the Revanth Reddy government may be compelled to take action.
