Dileep has been consistently critical of the state government since the Congress came to power in December 2023 and has been booked in at least 30 cases. BRS supporters have consistently described these cases as “false” and “illegal,” intended to suppress dissent.
Published Sep 08, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 08, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Konatham Dileep served as the digital media director for the Telangana government during the previous BRS regime.
Synopsis: BRS leader Konatham Dileep, facing at least 30 cases relating primarily to his social media posts, has alleged harassment by the Telangana police for his consistent criticism of the ruling Congress. Dileep, who has been arrested three times and released on each occasion, said the actions were intended to suppress dissent.
Konatham Dileep, a Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader and former digital media director for the Telangana government under the previous BRS regime, has alleged harassment by state police for his vocal social media activism criticising the ruling Congress government.
Dileep has been consistently critical of the state government since the Congress came to power in December 2023 and has been booked in at least 30 cases.
The cases relate primarily to his social media posts and include allegations of spreading misinformation, making derogatory comments, or violating provisions of laws such as the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
He has been arrested three times but was released on each occasion, with courts ruling that there was no evidence to justify his detention.
In a post on X on 5 September, Dileep recalled how police had arrested him on the same date in 2024, when the first case was registered against him after the Congress assumed office.
“I know there are more than 30 cases against me. I suspect there are more, and the number could be around 50, as FIRs have been filed in courts in remote parts of the state that I do not even know about,” Dileep told South First.
“There were instances where judges became angry with the police for booking cases without any shred of evidence. The police even registered cases under stringent sections of organised crime and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act with the intention of keeping me in jail, but the courts stepped in and came to my rescue.”
Dileep cited several examples to support his allegations of harassment, where cases were booked against him without evidence or even his involvement.
One such instance was in January this year, when a clash broke out between a group of Muslim youths and a local MLA in Khanapur, in the erstwhile Adilabad district, over the installation of a Maulana Abul Kalam Azad statue.
“The police named me as Accused No. 9 in the case, arrested me, and whisked me away as soon as I landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, upon my return from the US. They not only registered a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act but also invoked provisions of organised crime,” he said.
He added that when the case came up in court, the judge asked whether the same sections had been applied to the eight other accused.
“The police replied in the negative. The court immediately ordered the deletion of those sections and released me. The police had booked me only because of my social media posts against Congress workers led by local MLA Vedma Bujji,” Dileep said.
He also referred to a later incident in Kadem, also in Adilabad district, when the police attempted to arrest him over a separate social media post.
“I staged a dharna on the court premises, after which the police were pulled up for not clubbing this case with the Khanapur case, as both were to be heard by the same court. The police tried to arrest me but could not,” he said.
Another case was linked to communal riots in Jainoor, also in Adilabad district, which erupted after the rape of a tribal woman allegedly by people of another community. Dileep said the police wrongly portrayed him as the chief conspirator.
“I had nothing to do with the communal violence. In fact, I didn’t even know that a place called Jainoor existed. All I did was voice my opinion on social media. The two cases that they tried to book—Khanapur and Kadem—are places I have never visited in my life earlier,” he said.
According to him, almost every post on social media has become grounds for police action. “It seems as though everything I post on social media makes the police register cases against me under one pretext or another in remote police stations like those in faraway Adilabad, summoning me for questioning,” he said.
“The police know they cannot prove anything against me, but by summoning me to distant police stations, they try to cause as much inconvenience as possible. They seem to believe that even if they cannot secure punishment in court, they want to at least make me suffer in the process.”
Dileep also listed a series of other cases that he described as frivolous. These included one for pointing out encroachment on a lake bed in Nirmal, another for allegedly making a Miss World contestant feel uncomfortable in Hyderabad, and one for posting a video of a farmer criticising the Chief Minister.
“Even for posting a Ghibli-style illustration condemning the destruction of forest on the University of Hyderabad campus, I had to face a case. What I did was simply post an artistic image—how can that be illegal?” he asked.
He objected to the way the FIRs described him. “Worse still, in the FIRs, the police state that I am a BRS leader. How is my party affiliation relevant to the allegations they are making against me?”
Dileep pointed out that the High Court had intervened in response to repeated police summons, directing the department not to summon him further.
“This is because they are not able to gather any evidence to support the charges they are trying to foist against me,” he said, expressing surprise that the police have still not submitted copies of the FIRs to the High Court despite its directions, after he filed a petition seeking details of all cases registered against him.
Dileep and BRS supporters have consistently described these cases as “false” and “illegal,” intended to suppress dissent. The common themes in his critical social media posts include government failures, environmental destruction, and exam paper leaks.
The Telangana High Court has intervened multiple times, granting stays and bail, and even reprimanding the police for using loose language such as calling activists “habitual offenders.”
Some of the important cases against Dileep are as follows:
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
