HC denies anticipatory bail to Vamsi

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed on Thursday YSRCP leader and former Gannavaram MLA Vallabhneni Vamsi’s anticipatory bail petition in a case relating to the attack on TDP office.

The former MLA had approached the court for anticipatory bail in the case registered against him and others for the attack on the TDP office in Gannavaram in February 2023 when YSRCP was in power.

Vamsi is currently in judicial custody for allegedly kidnapping and threatening Satyavardhan, a computer operator in TDP’s Gannavaram office who is the complainant in the attack case.

The former MLA is the 71st accused in the case registered for the attack on the TDP office. During the hearing on the anticipatory bail petition, Vamsi’s counsel submitted to the court that the former MLA was not present during the attack on the TDP office.

The government counsel argued that the Gannavaram TDP office was attacked at the behest of Vallabhaneni Vamsi. It was brought to the notice of the court that the vehicles were set on fire and people were terrorised during the attack. They said even when the victims lodged a complaint, the police registered a case but did not arrest the accused then when the YSRCP was in power and case investigation was diluted.

The government advocates submitted to the bench that granting anticipatory bail would affect the investigation of the case.

Vamsi’s lawyers argued that the case was registered against the petitioner out of political vendetta and that the accused had nothing to do with the attack.

Andhra Pradesh police arrested Vamsi from his residence in Hyderabad on February 13. The next day a court in Vijayawada sent him and his followers Shivarama Krishna Prasad and Lakshmipathy to judicial remand for 14 days.

Vamsi and his followers, allegedly involved in the TDP office attack case, kidnapped Satyavardhan and threatened him to withdraw the case.

A case under Bharat Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 140 (1) (kidnap), 308, 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was booked against Vamsi and others.