Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Raghunandan Rao has demanded the expulsion of Excise Minister Srinivas Goud from the Cabinet, raising questions over him firing in the air in a public place, by snatching a weapon from the police.
Speaking to reporters here, Mr Raghunandan Rao sought to know whether the Minister had a licence to use a weapon and what warranted him to fire a weapon when hundreds of people were present for a public programme. “What law permits him to fire a weapon? The police should give a clarification on this,” he said.
Mr. Raghunandan Rao said Director General of Police (DGP) M. Mahender Reddy must explain whether the gunmen given to the Ministers and MLAs carried rubber bullets or real ones. Referring to the claims of the Minister, he said the DGP should give clarity on this issue since the Minister has been claiming that he had fired a rubber bullet in the air at a rally in Mahabubnagar. In the absence of a clarification, he said he would file a case in the High Court.
The Dubbak MLA argued that as per the rule, the gun should have been confiscated by now and sent for forensic analysis and a case should have been booked against the Minister for firing in public without a gun licence. “Who is the police trying to save? Is it the local SP,” he asked.
He said the DGP’s silence was sending across a wrong signal, something that was not expected from him given his track record. “I am willing to go to the DGP for a clarification. He should send the weapon to the forensic lab or else I would approach the court of law,” he said.
