Telangana leaders booked for provocative statements

Three Telangana leaders, including Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, were Tuesday booked for making provocative statements.

Police have also booked Telangana employees' Joint Action Committee (JAC) leaders Swami Goud and Vithal for stating that policemen in Telangana would also join the strike for separate state.

A case was booked against the TRS chief at Saifabad police station for calling on Telangana people to attack houses of ministers and MPs who refuse to resign to further the cause of a separate state.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, has been booked under section 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the Indian Penal Code, police sources said.

Goud and Vithal have been booked under sections of Police Forces Act, 1966. They were charged with instigating policemen to revolt.

Police took suo motu action against the Telangana leaders two weeks after they made the statements.

The cases were booked a day after Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said the government would adopt a "zero tolerance policy" towards those disturbing law and order.
A police officer had also warned Monday that those instigating violence would be booked along with those resorting to it.