Nagarjuna Sagar dam row: Two cases booked against Andhra Pradesh Police

Hyderabad: Two cases were registered against Andhra Pradesh Police in Nalgonda district of Telangana after they allegedly took control of half of the Nagarjuna Sagar dam, barricading a part of it and restraining the entry of Telangana police and irrigation department officials on the site, police said on Friday.

The cases were booked against AP Police under relevant sections of the IPC on charges of wrongful restraint, trespass and mischief, among others. The Telangana Police are also in the process of adding sections under the Public Property Damage Act against them, a senior police official told.

On the intervening night of November 29 and November 30, a large contingent of police forces from Andhra Pradesh "barged" in at the Nagarjuna Sagar dam site in Nalgonda district around 1 am and allegedly pushed aside the Special Protection Force (SPF) of Telangana guarding the access points of the dam, resulting in tensions between the two states.

The AP Police force then took control of half of the dam, which has 26 gates, and erected several layers of barricades and barbed wire around it. Subsequently, AP Irrigation authorities also released water from the right canal, Telangana police had said.

Two complaints were filed against AP Police, one by an official of the Telangana Special Protection Force, who accused AP Police of causing damage to the gate and CCTVs and forcefully evicting Telangana SPF personnel from access points where they were posted as part of security.

The SPF official also said that they were wrongfully restrained by AP Police.

The second complaint was lodged by Telangana Irrigation department authorities against AP Police, accusing them of damage and wrongful restraint, police said.

Additional police personnel from Telangana were deployed following the incident, the official added.

Nagarjuna Sagar dam, built over river Krishna, is under the control of Telangana government, they said.

Inputs from PTI