Police ready for probe in Karimnagar clash; no case booked yet

Hyderabad: After clashes broke out between Karimnagar police and BJP MP Bandi Sanjay during the last rites of late RTC driver N Babu on November 1, police now say that the parliamentarian was abusive and wanted to divert the attention to Karimnagar.

During the clashes, Karimnagar police allegedly manhandled Bandi Sanjay, which drew criticism from BJP resulting in the Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy enquiring an incident report from the Telangana DGP.

Addressing media persons, a top cop from Karimnagar said, “No case has been booked. We maintained utmost restraint because it was a dead body. We decided not to arrest anybody or involve ourselves because it was the last rites.”

The official added that the BJP MP, meanwhile, wanted to take the dead body to Karimnagar depot. “Sanjay promised JAC leaders that he wouldn’t allow last rites and rituals at any cost.”

Before the clash, there were debacles concerning the issue ever since the RTC driver died on October 30. After the fight settled, they decided to cremate the body on November 1. However, the conflict remained, and on Friday, BJP leaders, JAC representatives and the Babu’s family got into an argument, especially regarding how long the body needs to be there.

Sanjay sat near the dead body and made around 200 to 300 active RTC workers sit with him. He wanted the entire focus to shift towards Karimnagar and wanted to take the body to the depot. The depot was 6 km away from his residence, and the crowd would gather in huge numbers. Moreover, if the body were to be taken to the depot, crowds would have gathered there as well.

On the other hand, the family didn’t want the body to be taken to the depot, due to its decomposing. The family members were in mourning, informing that the body had to be taken three villages away to follow certain rituals first. Bandi Sanjay began to talk provocatively, saying that they will take the body to the depot at any cost. He made an open declaration to see how the police will stop him.

“He wanted to take the body to the depot, and he had a group of 1,000 with him. We had to stop them with human barricades. We started controlling the crowd on both sides. In that crowd, one of our constables pushed a few people aside to prevent the gathering,” informed the police official.

He added that the BJP MP forcefully came forward in that process. “The constable tried to help Bandi Sanjay as people were stamping each other. In that attempt, the constable held Bandi Sanjay’s upper arm and not his collar as reported. He shouted at the constable to leave him, as it felt disrespectful. The footages, which surfaced on various platforms, show the event differently, and not as it happened.”

The cop noted that they didn’t slap him, but held his upper arm to save him from falling. “We even gave him a bottle of water to drink when he fell. We are ready for any probe, as we know we didn’t do any wrong. Even Bandi Sanjay knows that,” he further said.