Vizag Police Drama Over YS Jagan Attack Investigation

Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam police are trying extremely hard to prove their point in sidelining the issue on the attack on Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Police The variance in the narratives of the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner of Police is leading to doubts in the minds of the people.

It may be recalled that on Thursday, YSRCP Chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was attacked with a sharp knife in the VIP lounge of the Visakhapatnam Airport, by Janipalli Srinivasa Rao, a worker from a restaurant at the airport, run by a TDP contractor, Harshavardhan Prasad. DGP RP Thakur's comments on the attack even before the preliminary investigation by the police began in the case attracted widespread criticism in the State.

Including several Opposition parties, the people of the State were surprised after the DGP said that the accused, Srinivasa Rao was a YS Jagan fan and that the attack was carried out for gaining publicity. In fact, Srinivasa Rao was not even taken into custody by the police when the top cop made these comments. At around 5 pm on Thursday, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officers had handed Srinivasa Rao to the AP Police. By that time, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu, State ministers, MLAs and other TDP leaders made baseless comments on the attack saying that YS Jagan's fan attacked the YSRCP Chief.

With this, the Vizag police find themselves in a spot in trying to convince the people about the truth or lack of it, in the DGP's comments on the attack. On Thursday, ACP Arjun announced that the accused used 9 SIM cards, out of which one was purchased just two days ago. On the other side, CP Ladda on Friday said Srinivasa Rao was using nine mobile phones and not SIM cards. Also, after saying that the accused was working as a chef in Fusion Foods in the airport, the police said he was a waiter in the restaurant.

The police officials had on Thursday night carried out investigation on the accused at ACP Lanka Arjun's office in the city. Later on Friday morning at around 9 am, he was shifted to the Airport police station before beginning further investigation by City Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Ladda and DCP Fakeerappa.

Meanwhile, amid a lot of commotion near the police station, CC cameras was installed in and around the station so that DGP Thakur also could get a view of the investigation. The police personnel leaked to the media that in a briefing in the evening, sensational findings would be revealed by the officials.

But, in his 4:30 pm interaction with the media, he anounced that the police could not extract any details from the accused. Asked if the police could get any further details from Srinivasa Rao in the 24 hours of police custody, CP Ladda replied saying Srinivasa Rao did not reveal any information.

Also Read: Unmask The Conspirators Of Attack On AP Leader Of Opposition: Mekapati