Bandi Sanjay's Detention: Eyewitness deny viral social media posts

Union Minister of State for Home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, was detained by police on Saturday in Hyderabad while staging a dharna in support of aspirants for the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) Group 1 exams. The aspirants are demanding the postponement of the Mains exam.

A video of the minister being taken into a police vehicle quickly went viral on social media, with claims that Sanjay Kumar deliberately asked the police to push him into the vehicle to create a spectacle for publicity. However, his office has denied these allegations, clarifying that the minister was actually asking the police not to push him.

Speaking to NewsMeter, the minister’s office said, “The minister said ‘Gunjaku’ which means ‘don’t pull,’ but only the word ‘Gunja’ could be heard clearly in the video, leading to the confusion.”

Manideep Gourishetty, a TSPSC Group 1 aspirant who was present during the incident, corroborated this statement. “I was near the car when the minister was detained. He was clearly asking not to be pushed. The viral social media posts are misleading,” said Gourishetty, who has been actively participating in the protest for several days.

Gourishetty also shared photos from today to confirm his presence at the protest. In one of the photos, he can be seen standing behind Sanjay Kumar as the minister was being detained by the police.

The detention occurred after Sanjay Kumar led a 'Chalo Secretariat' rally from Ashok Nagar, a hub for civil services coaching in Hyderabad, to express solidarity with the aspirants. Amid slogans against the Congress-led Telangana government, Kumar squatted on the ground in protest.

Accompanied by a large group of youth, Sanjay Kumar attempted to march to meet Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and discuss the students' concerns. The police, however, stopped him, prompting him to briefly address the aspirants from atop a vehicle. He was subsequently taken into a police van and dropped off at the BJP state office in Nampally.

Sanjay Kumar later staged a sit-in protest at the Ambedkar statue near the Secretariat.