Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 20 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh police Monday arrested an opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator on charges of molesting female students from Kerala at a nursing college run by him.
A three-member team from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested T.V. Rama Rao in Kovvur in the coastal district of West Godavari.

A court in Eluru town sent him to judicial custody till Aug 3. The legislator, who represents Kovvur constituency, was shifted to Rajhamundry Central Jail amid tight security.

The arrest was made after five female students of TVR College of Nursing in Nidadavolu town in West Godavari district June 4 met state Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy to complain that the legislator made a rape attempt. They later recorded their statements before the state CID, which is probing the case.

The girls also complained to the state governor and the human rights commission. The commission had also sought a report from West Godavari district police, which found Rama Rao guilty of molestation.

Earlier on June 18, police had booked the legislator for rape and murder of a student.

However, the police could not make any progress in the case as they failed to find any evidence of the offence. The legislator had denied the charges and claimed that it was a conspiracy by his political rivals.

The CID has arrested the legislator on the charges of attempt to outrage modesty of women, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement. He has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The case took a political overtone after TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu accused the Congress government of implicating the legislator in false cases. Rama Rao and his family members also started an indefinite fast early this month to demand withdrawal of the case.