TIRUPATI: Former Tirupati urban development authority (TUDA) chairman Chevireddy Mohith Reddy was taken into custody by the Tirupati police at the Bengaluru airport on Saturday.
The arrest was reportedly made in connection with the assault on TDP candidate Pulivarthi Nani reported at Sri Padmavathi Mahila university campus in Tirupati on May 14, a day after the 2024 general elections polling day on May 13.
While initially 34 persons, mostly YSRCP activists were arrested by the police, Mohith Reddy's name was included in the accused list later on and the former TUDA chairman had applied for anticipatory bail in the high court and the next hearing was scheduled on Monday.
Sources close to Mohith Reddy said he was going to Dubai to attend a friend's wedding on Sunday and had booked his return flight to Chennai tomorrow itself.
As Tirupati police issued a look out notice on Mohith Reddy, he was prevented from taking the Dubai flight at the Bengaluru airport earlier on Saturday. And after the Tirupati police were alerted, he was taken into custody by the local police at the Bengaluru airport and is reportedly being shifted to Tirupati.
Former Chandragiri legislator Dr Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy accused the TDP of misusing its power to target the opposition party leaders.
"Despite the medical reports of Sri Venkateswara institute of medical sciences proving the fact that Pulivarthi Nani was completely normal after the incident, more than 34 people have so far been arrested and jailed and now they have arrested Mohith Reddy too", he lamented and warned that the YSRCP will intensify protests agaibst the undemocratic and vengeance filled politics of the TDP.