TDP MLA from Andhra, Koneti Adimulam who was suspended from the party after a survivor alleged that he had sexually harassed her several times, has now been booked for alleged rape and intimidation of the said survivor. The survivor had earlier said elaborated the ordeal she went through to media and said that she had proof of sexual abuse.
Published Sep 07, 2024 | 12:17 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2024 | 2:48 PM
Suspended TDP MLA Adimulam and Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu
The Tirupati East Police, on Friday, 6 September, has registered a case against suspended Satyavedu TDP MLA Koneti Adimulam on charges of rape and intimidation, following a complaint lodged by the survivor, who is an activist with the Telugu Desam party.
The police sources said that the victim approached the police at about 11.15 pm on 5 September, after reaching the temple town from Hyderabad, where she made the sensational allegation against the TDP legislator that he had sexually assaulted her.
She also released purported videos of the attack on her. Before reaching Hyderabad, she had sent the videos, which she said she had recorded using a pen camera, to CM N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking action against him.
After she lodged the complaint, the police quickly registered the case and began the investigation. They had collected the CCTV footage from the hotel where the legislator, in a room, had allegedly sexually assaulted her.
In her letter to the chief minister, the victim recalled how she had opposed Adimulam’s admission into the TDP ahead of the recent Assembly elections and allotment of the party ticket to contest from Sathyavedu. She also recalled how she led the protest against Adimulam for his corrupt deeds when he was in YSRCP.
After he was given the ticket she said worked for his victory since she wanted Chandrababu Naidu to come to power. However, the MLA had nursed a grudge against her and began behaving inappropriately with her after joining the TDP, according to her. Even though she managed to avoid the passes he made at her, he allegedly continued to send messages or call her constantly, asking her to comply with his demands or face consequences.
The survivor said that she went to see him at Bhimas Hotel in Tirupati once on 6 July and then again on 17 July when he allegedly sexually assaulted her. Even after that, she claimed that he continued to try to reach out to her constantly over phone. When her husband grew suspicious, she told him how she was being intimidated.
She explained that it was then that they decided together that she should take a pen camera with her when she met him again. As expected he exploited her sexually when she met him for the third time but this time she could record the attack on her using a pen camera.
Ever since the victim came out with allegations of rape, Adimulam went incommunicado. He, however, spoke to a media person over phone and told the media that rape charges against him were part of a conspiracy to defame him and that he was innocent. H said the pictures and videos were morphed to make the assailant look like him. He took oath on his children saying that he knew the victim only as a Telugu Desam activist and nothing more.
On 5 September, after the survivor’s allegations came out, his staff said that he was in a Chennai hospital undergoing treatment. The MLA’s daughter and son-in-law refuted the allegations of sexual assault. They wanted the people to know why the “victim” had released the videos now which were purported to have been taken long ago. They said a few TDP and YSRCP leaders were behind the conspiracy and that they suspected the role of former minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy in maligning the legislator’s image. They even set fire to the effigy of the “victim.”
A section in the TDP is alleging though Adimulam won the Assembly election on TDP ticket, he was supporting the YSRCP cadres. They even made allegations against him that he was working against the TDP’s interests.
Adimulam began his career in public life as a sarpanch and grew to become a legislator. He entered politics in 1978 and in 1980 he was elected as sarpanch of his native village Bhimuni Cheruvu in Narayanvanam mandal in the district. He continued as sarpanch for the next 15 years. In 1995 and 2006 he was elected as MPP and as ZPTC. In 2009, he sought ticket from the TDP to contest from Sathyavedu but lost.
Later he joined the Congress for some time and later went into the YSRCP. In 2014, he contested Assembly elections from Sathyavedu on YSRP ticket but lost the election. He, however, won the election on YSRCP ticket in 2019 from the same constituency. Meanwhile, theere were serious differences with the then YSRCP minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, who is from the same district.
Subsequently, Adimulam resigned from YSRCP and managed to get contest from Sathyavedu on a TDP ticket and won. Several TDP leaders opposed his admission to the TDP, since he allegedly made police register cases against them when he was a YSRCP MLA.
(Edited by Neena)
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