Published Jul 04, 2026 | 8:53 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 04, 2026 | 9:50 PM
Bachalakuri Joseph, aka Raavan. (Facebook.com/raavanbezawada)
Synopsis: YouTuber Prashan Raavan secured bail in Payakaraopeta on Saturday, but was immediately arrested by the Eluru police. This time, Raavan’s lawyer, Advocate Jada Sravan Kumar, is the first accused in the case.
The Eluru police in Andhra Pradesh arrested YouTuber and political commentator Bachalakuri Joseph, known as Prashna Raavan, soon after he was granted bail on Saturday, 4 July.
This was his fifth arrest in four days, but it came with a difference: He has been arraigned as the second accused, while his lawyer, Jada Sravan Kumar, is the first accused.
Earlier in the day, Raavan secured bail in the Payakaraopeta case from a court in Yelamanchili. He was accused of defaming political and religious leaders, including Pawan Kalyan, Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
Soon after he was granted bail, the Eluru police picked him up.
Speaking to South First, Team Prashna confirmed Raavan’s arrest, and added that he was being shifted to Eluru, around 200 km from Yelamanchili.
Meanwhile, Advocate Kumar had obtained a high court order against his arrest.
Raavan’s saga began on the night of 30 June, when Pithapuram police picked him up from his Hyderabad home over remarks he had made against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, and a spiritual speaker Ram Manohar Das at the Dalit Christian Samara Sankharavam public meeting.
Related: For Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh is his fiefdom
Both Raavan and Adv Kumar were speakers at this event. Team Prashna expressed doubt that the latest case was a modified version of the one filed in Pithapuram.
In a YouTube video released before his re-arrest on Saturday, Raavan said that even if the government machinery tried to hurt him, it would not be able to silence the people who would continue to question them.
“You cannot kill Prashna (the question),” he said.
Speaking to the reporters after his bail hearing at the Yelamanchili court, Raavan thanked the media for standing by him throughout the ordeal and credited his advocate Kumar for representing him and securing bail multiple times.
He was planning to hold a news conference later to speak in detail about the entire episode. However, the police had other plans.
Related: AP police’s brazenness continues as they arrest YouTuber Raavan for fourth time
In the YouTube video recorded before his fifth arrest, Raavan said around 500 police personnel were working around the clock to keep him in jail by keeping aside the real issues that affect the public. Personnel from the SP cadre to constables are all busy providing him security.
“Is this what the Andhra Pradesh government has stooped to? Are you not ashamed?” he asked.
He further asked whether questioning Pawan Kalyan was his only mistake.
“I have not eaten for four days now. I am also not drinking water. I am telling the state government that if they want to kill me, they should do it in a police station. Just like what they did to Gade Sai Krishna. But if you think you can have your entire state machinery go after me and suppress people’s voices, it’s a mistake,” he warned.
He further asked if anyone before him had been arrested four times in four days despite having gained bail. “This looks like organised crime. People in the Jana Sena Party constituencies file cases against me. They then try to send their hooligans to attack me. Police try to work around the clock to give me protection,” he said.
“I am asking Chandra Babu Naidu, Nara Lokesh and my favourite actor, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Can’t you just kill me at a police station? Kill me. Or else I will continue my hunger strike to death,” he added.
Raavan further stated that as a law-abiding citizen, he has the right to protest.
Also Read: SIT seizes bones, blood-stained lathi and ash from police station
On 1 June, a magistrate court granted Raavan bail, but he was soon picked up the Sarpavaram police in an unrelated 2025 case.
The pattern repeated twice more. After a Kakinada court rejected the police’s remand request on 2 July, Machilipatnam police arrested him the same night on a fresh complaint filed by Jana Sena supporters.
A Machilipatnam magistrate rejected a remand request late on 3 July, and the police from Payakaraopet in the distant Anakapalle district, nearly 300 km away, took him into custody.
Throughout the ordeal, four separate magistrates declined to remand him in custody, and his lawyer argued that arresting him repeatedly after each bail violated his fundamental rights and reflected selective targeting by the ruling NDA government in Andhra Pradesh.
The case also drew massive backlash, including from actor Prakash Raj, the Opposition YSRCP, and Telangana political analyst and former member of the Legislative Council, Prof K Nageshwar.
Criticism is mounting against actor-politician Pawan Kalyan. He has been accused of pursuing vendetta politics, as sources suggested that SHOs across Andhra Pradesh were being issued orders by his office.
Incidentally, Vangalapudi Anitha of the TDP is the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Pawan Kalyan had on 4 November 2024 warned her against forcing him to take over her portfolio. The warning was issued allegedly in the light of a spike in violence against women in the state.
Several social media users put up videos of Pawan Kalyan verbally abusing his opponents in the past, pointing out the hypocrisy of his followers filing cases against Raavan for echoing a similar language.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
