Three BRS party leaders, including its working president K.T. Rama Rao, got relief with the Telangana High Court on Monday staying all proceedings in a case registered by Mahadevpur police against them for capturing visuals of the Medigadda barrage by flying a drone camera overhead.
Justice K. Lakshman of the High Court issued notice to Vali Shaik, an assistant executive engineer of Irrigation department based on whose complaint the case was registered, after hearing the criminal petition filed by the BRS leaders. The judge stayed all proceedings in the case, including the arrest of the petitioners.
Mr. Rama Rao and two former MLAs of the party, Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy and Balka Suman, had moved the HC seeking a direction to quash the FIR issued by Mahadevpur police. Sections 223 (b) read with Section 3 (5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were invoked in the case.
The petitioners contended that they went to Medigadda barrage to prove that the ruling Congress government was not lifting water from Kaleshwaram project, causing loss to the farmers in the area. To substantiate their claim, visuals of the dam were captured with drone camera.
Their counsel argued that the content of the complaint lodged by the engineer did not attract ingredients of Section 223 (b) of BNS. That Section should be invoked only if there was a violation of the order promulgated by the public official, the counsel said. The matter was adjourned to September 5 for next hearing.
