Union minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son, Bandi Bhageerath, was arrested in Telangana on Saturday in connection with a case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, after the Telangana High Court declined to grant him interim protection from arrest, media reports said.
Bhageerath surrendered before police and was arrested in Narsingi near Hyderabad, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Ramesh Reddy said. He was later produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody until May 29, according to his lawyer Karunasagar.
The case stems from a complaint filed by the parents of a 17-year-old girl, who alleged that Bhageerath befriended their daughter on the promise of marriage and sexually assaulted her at a farmhouse in Moinabad on Dec. 31.
Bhageerath has denied the allegations. His family also filed a police complaint accusing the girl and her parents of blackmail and attempting to extort 50 million rupees ($600,000). Police subsequently registered a case of extortion and criminal intimidation against the girl and her parents.
The Telangana High Court heard Bhageerath’s anticipatory bail plea late into Friday night. Justice T. Madhavi Devi reserved orders on the petition until May 21 but declined to grant interim relief from arrest pending the verdict, according to local media reports.
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