3 people from Sunil Kanugolu's team and 2 from Congress were taken into custody on Tuesday night, police deployed outside firm.
Publicity-shy election strategist Sunil Kanugolu caught on camera with Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar. (Supplied)
On the day Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is in New Delhi to inaugurate the national office of his newly-rechristened party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Congress poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu’s office in Hyderabad has been sealed shut.
The action on Sunil Kanugolu’s firm is the first of its kind on any political strategy and election management firm. TRS leaders allege the firm was running social media pages that posted allegedly morphed, derogatory content against K Chandrashekhar Rao.
Leaders of Congress and members of Sunil Kanugolu’s team at INClusive Minds allege that Hyderabad police, who seized electronic devices, have deleted several social media pages run by the team as part of their political campaign.
These social media pages, with posts of critical and satirical nature against KCR and other BRS leaders, team members said, were deemed “objectionable” by the police.
In all five people, three from Kanugolu’s team in leadership positions and two from Telangana Congress, were taken into custody, party insiders said, but the Hyderabad police has remained tight-lipped.
“Our staff was taken to Nampally police station and were lodged there overnight. The police haven’t given an FIR copy even to our advocates. Our advocates weren’t allowed to meet those arrested. We haven’t been given information on what are the charges under which they have taken action,” a member of Kanugolu’s team told South First.
The action of Cyberabad police in seizing the office of #SunilKanugolu is a blatant attempt to suppress dissent.
It is aimed at defunctioning @INCTelangana war room which is at full swing.Come what may,we will continue our crusade against corruption by Telangana CM & his family pic.twitter.com/KWQZk6For0
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) December 13, 2022
While the police have not issued any official statement on the nature of charges against the firm or those arrested, sources in the police department said the raids were based on five complaints over alleged derogatory posts against the Telangana chief minister on pages run by Sunil Kanugolu’s team.
“We have arrested people on the basis of information that there was a conspiracy to destabilise the Telangana government,” senior police officials told reporters.
Since Tuesday night, Congress leaders have put their entire weight behind Kanugolu and his team. Even as the Congress called for protests across Telangana against Chandrashekhar Rao, leaders of the party, in an act of defiance, have started sharing the alleged derogatory posts that led to action against INClusive minds.
For this FB post Telangana Congress War room headed by #SunilKanugolu team at Hyderabad was raided and 50 computers taken … Data stolen …
Five of our Proffesional partners arrested illegally without FIR ..
Now I am posting the same let @TelanganaCMO arrest me …#HitlerKCR pic.twitter.com/6SonRAHRdZ— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳✋மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) December 14, 2022
Congress MP and AICC In-charge General Secretary of Telangana Manickam Tagore also sought to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha against the action of Hyderabad police against the Congress war room run by Kanugolu in his office.
Deeming the Hyderabad police action “atrocious”, Tagore said people were arrested and the office was searched without any search warrant or notice under 41(A) of the CrPC.
“The House should also direct the state government to stop such activities of Shri Chandrashekhar Rao, Telangana government, who has been behaving completely with autocratic nature as well as acting as South Indian Hitler,” Tagore said in his petition.
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