Medigadda Barrage Trespass: Telangana HC Hears Quash Petition of KTR
BRS Leaders Challenge Case Filed Under Official Secrets Act
Hyderabad: Justice K. Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday heard a quash petition filed by BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, and BRS leaders Venkataramana Reddy Gandra and Balka Suman, seeking quash of the proceedings in the FIR registered at Mahadevpur police station for visiting Medigadda barrage on July 26, 2024, without obtaining prior permission from the concerned authority and also flying a drone to capture pictures of the barrage without prior permission.
Public prosecutor Palle Nageshwar Rao informed the court that as per Section 2(8) of the Official Secret Act, Medigadda falls under the prohibited area and to substantiate his contention, he furnished a copy of the gazette issued by the Central Government. Further, he contended that the petitioners visited the barrage in blatant violation of the Official Secret Act. He also furnished statements of witnesses in this case, LW1 to LW6, out of which two are police officials and the others being executive engineers posted at the barrage. The statements of all the witnesses commonly say that Rao, along with the other leaders and party workers, had gatecrashed into the barrage.
Meanwhile, T.V. Ramana Rao, counsel for the petitioners, contended that there is no specific mention that his clients had flown the drone and hence the offence cannot be attributed directly to Rao and others. The court adjourned the hearing to next week.
