Union minister and BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son, Bhageerath, surrendered before the police on Saturday after a lookout circular was issued against him in connection with the POCSO case.
The Cyberabad police issued a circular against Bhageerath to prevent him from fleeing the country.
A search was on on Saturday to nab Bageerath, who was denied interim protection from arrest by the Telangana High Court on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the matter took a political turn when Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) president K Kavitha wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for the removal of Bandi Sanjay Kumar as Minister of State (Home) from the Union Cabinet to “ensure a free and fair investigation into his son’s POCSO case”.
Details of the case against Bageerath
A POCSO case against Bageerath was filed under relevant sections of the BNS and POCSO Act on May 8 by the mother of a 17-year-old girl. The complainant alleged that the minister’s son was in a relationship with her daughter and sexually harassed her.
After the victim’s statement was recorded, a number of stringent sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) were invoked in the case, as per a PTI report.
Bageerath’s counter-complaint
Bageerath also filed a counterclaim. In it, he claimed that the girl who met him invited him to group meetings and family events. An FIR was also registered based on his complaint.
In his complaint, Bageerath said he accompanied the girl’s family to holy places as part of a group of friends because he believed her family was trustworthy. He also claimed that the girl’s family pressured him to marry her and when he rejected their proposal, they demanded money from him and also threatened to file false complaints against him if he refused to pay.
According to a PTI report, Bageerath claimed to have paid the girl’s father an amount of Rs ₹50,000 out of fear, but the family later increased their demand to ₹5 million crowns. He also claimed that the family threatened to kill the girl’s mother if he did not comply with their demands.
He asked his son to report to the police, claims Bandi Sanjay
On Saturday, Bandi Sanjay Kumar said he had asked his son to appear before the police and join the investigation.
The Union Minister of State issued a statement saying that he had asked his son to cooperate with the authorities immediately after the case was filed on May 8.
He also said that his son maintains his innocence in the case and submitted evidence regarding the same to his lawyers.
According to the minister, the lawyers said the case would be dropped and Bageerath would be granted bail, leading to the postponement of his surrender.
