Cyberabad police takes Bandi Sanjay's son Bageerath into custody in POCSO case

Union Minister Bandi Sanjay, however, said his son Bageerath was not arrested. He himself appeared for police questioning.

Hyderabad: Cyberabad police took Bandi Sai Bageerath, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay, into custody on Saturday night in connection with a POCSO case registered against him.

Cyberabad Commissioner of Police P Ramesh Reddy said Bageerath was arrested at TGPA junction in Narsingi and shifted to Pet Basheerabad police station.

However, dismissing reports of his arrest, Union Minister Bandi Sanjay took to social media and said, “Bageerath was not arrested. He himself appeared for police questioning. Bageerath went to Pet Basheerabad Police Station in the presence of two lawyers.”

Bageerath’s custody follows a denial of interim protection from arrest by a Telangana High Court vacation bench. In a related development, the Medchal court recorded the statement of the alleged victim, a minor girl, on Saturday.

“In view of the allegations made against our son Bandi Bhagirath, out of respect for the law I have handed him over to the police for questioning today through our lawyers,” Sanjay said in a statement. “I have said that before the law, my child is no different from any common person. We all must be subject to the law. Our son keeps saying again and again that he has done nothing wrong. As soon as the complaint came in I planned to hand him over at the station. We consulted lawyers and presented the evidence we had to them.

The lawyers said that after seeing those, the case would be dropped and bail would certainly be granted. That is why there was some delay. Even today the lawyers say bail will be granted. However, because I felt further delay would be inappropriate, I brought our son and handed him over to the police through the lawyers for questioning. We have full faith in the judicial system,” he said.

Earlier in the day police issued a lookout notice against Bageerath and formed four special teams to track him. The teams visited Sanjay’s residences in Hyderabad and Karimnagar while searching for the accused.

Bageerath had been absconding since the FIR was registered on May 8 and had approached the Telangana High Court seeking interim protection from arrest. A verdict on that petition was expected to take more time. On Friday night, a bench headed by Justice T Madhavi Devi declined to pass immediate orders after reviewing voluminous material from both sides, including the victim’s statement, and said it would pronounce its ruling at the next sitting of the vacation court, either by May 18 or 21.

The late-night hearing, which ran from 9:30 pm to 11:30 pm on Friday, witnessed intense arguments from both counsels with extensive references to Supreme Court and High Court precedents on anticipatory bail in POCSO matters. When Justice Madhavi Devi said immediate orders were not possible, the defence urged that no coercive action be taken against Bageerath until the court’s decision. The victim’s counsel opposed this, arguing that such relief was beyond the vacation court’s mandate, which was limited to the anticipatory bail plea. The court then scheduled its order for the next sitting.

Before the hearing began, Justice Madhavi Devi drew attention to what she described as a “smear campaign” against the judiciary on social media. Hyderabad police have launched a detailed inquiry into the social media campaign targeting the judge, whom she condemned during Friday’s hearing.