It seems that the scuffle between BJP leader Manikanth Rathod and the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge will not end for now, as the supporters of Mr. Kharge reached the Patrika Bhavan complex on Saturday and tried to besiege the former in presence of police after his press conference.
Following a tip-off about Mr. Kharge’s supporters gathering near Patrika Bhavan, police security was deployed immediately to avoid any untoward incident. As the agitators tried to attack his vehicle, the police intervened and dispersed the protesters allowing Mr. Rathod’s car to proceed.
Mr. Rathod addressing presspersons claimed that police officers managed to foil his press meet scheduled on Thursday [December 7] to respond to the charge leveled against him by Mr. Kharge and the Superintendent of Police Adduru Srinivasalu that Mr. Rathod was injured in a car accident and portrayed it as an attack by Mr. Kharge’s followers.
Mr. Rathod claimed that the city police picked him up from his apartment in the city without warrant and was taken to Farhatabad police station. “They seized my cell phone and made me sit in the Farhatabad police station the whole day on Thursday (from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and was sent to judicial custody for 24 hours.”
Mr. Rathod reiterated that he was attacked by a group of miscreants on the midnight of November 18 near Malagatti in Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district, but the district police is hell bent on proving it as an accident by creating fake evidence. The person who has recorded his statement before the magistrate was not with him in the car during the accident. Mr. Rathod accused that district police was functioning like a puppet of Mr. Kharge.
According to Mr. Rathod’s version, on November 18 his car did not collide with the tree nor met with an accident as said by the police, but it got stopped suddenly near Chepatla in Yadgir district as the vehicle was running out of AdBlue, so he continued his travel in another vehicle towards Kalaburagi, where he was attacked near Malagatti in Chittapur taluk, and he was rushed to a private hospital in Kalaburagi for the treatment. The vehicle which was stationed near Chepatla met with an accident the next morning and was shifted to Hyderabad in Telangana for repair, however it was not brought to his notice even after 15 days as he was admitted to hospital, he claimed.
Mr. Rathod warned that he will continue his agitation against illegal sand mining in the district, neither the district police nor Mr Kharge can stop him, he said.
