Vikarabad Collector attack: Eight more held as special team step up searches

Hyderabad: The police on Saturday, arrested eight more persons in connection with the attack on Vikarabad Collector Prateek Jain and other officials during a public hearing on a proposed pharma unit in Vikarabad’s Lagcherla village in Dudyal mandal of Telangana.

The incident took place while the farmers were engaging in a vociferous protest against the land acquisition for the proposed unit. Up to 17 people were already arrested in connection with the incident that took place on November 11, taking the total number of arrests to 25.

On the day of the protest, District Collector Prateek Jain and other officials had gone to Lagcherla village in an attempt to persuade the farmers, but was met with “Go back” and “Congress down down” slogans. It is alleged that some villagers, including the women, also pushed and attacked the officials as they persisted in their pacification attempts.

According to reports, all eight persons who were arrested on have been shifted to the Parigi police station, and after health checks, they will be produced before the court. Many residents, meanwhile, are fleeing Lagcherla and seeking refuge with family and friends in nearby villages due to the fear of arrest. Among the 17 people who were arrested before, as many as 16 have been shifted from Parigi to Sangareddy jail.

BRS leader and former Kodangal MLA Patnam Narender Reddy was also arrested on November 13. Narender Reddy has been charged with conspiracy and abetment, and is named the prime accused in the case. In the remand report, the police stated that based on confessions from previously arrested individuals, the former MLA emerged as the “chief conspirator.” The report alleged that he orchestrated the conspiracy and abetted others with the intent to “destabilise the government.”

Narender Reddy was produced in the court and remanded to judicial custody in Cherlapally Central Jail. He has filed a petition in the Telangana High Court praying for the quashing of the remand order passed by JFCM at Kodangal in Vikarabad district. The petition will come up for hearing on November 18.

Meanwhile, Additional Director General Mahesh Bhagwat has launched a probe into the incident, and met Collector Prateek Jain as part of the inquiry. The Additional Director General, along with SP Narayana Reddy and several high-ranking officials, also convened a meeting with the district police at the District Police Office in Vikarabad. Special teams formed to capture the fugitives involved are stepping up their searches.