2016 Tuni rampage: AP to withdraw cases against Kapu leaders

East Godavari: The Andhra Pradesh government decided on Wednesday to withdraw cases against Kapu leaders who had a led a violent agitation in Tuni of East Godavari district in 2016 demanding reservation for their community members.

The government will also drop cases concerning the protests against land acquisition for Bhogapuram Airport in Vizianagaram district and demonstrations aimed at Reliance establishments at Anantapuramu, Guntur and other places.

The state home department issued a government order (GO) signed by Principal Secretary KRM Kishore Kumar, announcing the relief to the Kapur leaders. The decisions in the three cases have been taken to maintain peace and security, it said.

As per the GO, the home department has also asked the state's director-general of police to provide details of individual cases tied to these three issues with the opinion of public prosecutors for further action.

In January 2016, Kapu community members had run amok at Tuni railway station. They asked all the passengers on Ratnachal Express to get down after the train halted there and set it on fire. They ransacked the station too.

Before the incident, there had been a massive protest meeting near Tuni. Over two lakh people of Kapu community from all over the state, led by senior Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham, had joined the protest to demand their inclusion in the backward class list.

The cases, now reversed by the YSR Congress government, had been filed when the TDP was governing Andhra Pradesh. A few months ago, the AP government chose to bin the cases filed against those who had agitated for the Special Status for AP.