The Andhra Pradesh government seriously took action and suspended three top IPS officers, including a Director General (DG), on allegations of wrongful arrests and harassment against Mumbai-based actor-model Kadambari Jethwani. The suspension followed an inquiry that evoked large public interest.
The suspended officers are:
P. Sitharama Anjaneyulu, former Intelligence Chief (DG rank)
Kranti Rana Tata, former Vijayawada Police Commissioner (Inspector General rank)
Vishal Gunni, former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Superintendent rank)
Charges And Complaints
In August, Kadambari Jethwani lodged a complaint with NTR Police Commissioner S.V. Rajasekhar Babu accusing the officers of working with K.V.R. Vidyasagar, YSR Congress Party leader and film producer. But a different story was presented forgery and extortion case filed against her in February by Vidyasagar, where she was charged for conniving with him to harass Jethwani and her parents. According to her, the officers had unlawfully arrested her and her family and transported them from Mumbai to Vijayawada without notice.
A Mumbai resident, Jethwani alleged that she and her aged parents were grossly humiliated and detained illegally, where her family was detained judicially for more than 40 days. Her counsel, N. Srinivas charged Vidyasagar as he prepared forged land documents to implicate her and the family members, and the police prevented them from filing the bail applications for some days.
Govt’s Response And Disciplinary Actions
The AP government issued a government order (GO) saying that disciplinary proceedings against Anjaneyulu were started with ‘prima facie evidence’ of ‘misconduct and negligence of duty.’ The GO read, “After careful consideration of the report and having due regard to the circumstances of the case, the government concluded that there is prima facie evidence and that the disciplinary proceedings are warranted for his grave misconduct and dereliction of duty.”
Inquiry reveals that Anjaneyulu asked the other officers to arrest Jethwani before filing the FIR on the case. The FIR is filed on 2 February, but the orders of arrest were allegedly issued on 31 January which was even earlier than when he had approached them to make the complaint.
Case Details And Investigation
The investigation into the wrongful arrest of Jethwani has exposed these high-ranking officers. According to the investigation, Anjaneyulu had already issued instructions for the arrest of Jethwani before the FIR was filed. He has been accused of trying to downplay the incident and hush it up so that no legal action is taken against them.
The case has exposed considerable flaws in the police force due to the proceedings of the complaint by Jethwani and the subsequent inquiry, hence suspending these high-ranking officers. The whole episode that took place in all this has, at its core, brought to the limelight various matters touching upon misconduct issues and the need for an increase in accountability within the police system.
Status Quo And Future Orders
The three suspended officers include some of the 16 IPS personnel who had been served a memo asking them to report to the Director General of Police’s office twice daily without an official posting. An investigation is still underway, probing deeper into how far the involvement of each one of them reaches, and what implications their involvement may have for their careers and assignments.
