Kumar Siddhartha, Pune
Andhra Pradesh suspended three senior Indian Police Service officers after a complaint was filed by Mumbai-based actor Kadambari Jethwani against wrongful arrests and illegal confinement of the actors by the police. Among them are former Chief of Intelligence PSR Anjaneyulu, former Deputy Commissioner of Vijayawada Vishal Gunni and former Police Commissioner of Vijayawada Kranti Rana Tata. The suspension took place according to the All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, under Rule 3(1).
A complaint was lodged by Jethwani in the first week of August itself with the NTR District Police Commissioner, claiming that the officers acted expeditiously after the film producer KV Vidyasagar Rao and YSRCP leader made the alleged accusations of forgery and extortion against her.
She alleged that the officers harassed the father-daughter duo mentally during the detention. After lodging her complaint, the Andhra Pradesh Police chief had ordered an inquiry internally. Consequently, on the basis of the preliminary findings of that internal probe, action was taken against the three senior IPS officers involved in her case.
The officers, the probe report said, had acted in a hasty manner and arrested Jethwani much before a formal complaint had been lodged by Vidyasagar Rao. According to the report, IPS officers Kranti Rana Tata and Vishal Gunni had acted in pursuance of the verbal instruction of the former intelligence director general Anjaneyulu and traveled to Mumbai on 2nd February to arrest the actor. “They have not obtained any written orders or enough evidence to justify an arrest,” added the report.
Subsequently, orders for suspension were filed against the three, and were signed by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Assistant Commissioner Hanumanthu Rao and Ibrahimpatnam Circle Inspector C. Satyanarayana, who have been under suspension already, are part of this case. The officials said that the wrongful arrest of Jethwani and her father, which was done without following the proper procedure, made the Andhra Pradesh government take disciplinary action against the implicated officers. The case has received widespread media attention, which subsequently raised questions on the failure of processes and if there is a personal liability of law enforcement entities for serious crimes.