Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Punganur Assembly constituency in-charge Challa Ramachandra Reddy, popularly known as Challa Babu, on September 4 (Monday) surrendered before the police in Punganur of Chittoor district.
Challa Babu was named Accused-1 in seven criminal cases filed in connection with the riots reported from Punganur and Angallu in Annamayya district during the visit of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on August 4. As many as 47 police personnel including an additional SP were injured during the group clashes allegedly engineered by the TDP cadre.
According to the police, Challa Babu, who had been absconding since the incidents, filed a petition seeking bail in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on August 22. He could obtain bail in four of the seven cases filed against him. As he could not get bail in three cases, Challa Babu surrendered before the police in the presence of Deputy SP N. Sudhakar Reddy.
Earlier in the day, a posse of police personnel was deployed in Punganur town as talks spread that Challa Babu might surrender either before the Punganur court or at the local police station.
The police shifted Challa Babu to the sub-jail in Chittoor on judicial remand. TDP Polit Bureau member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and party leaders from Tirupati, Chittoor, and Annamayya districts reached the Punganur police station to extend solidarity to Challa Babu.
