TTD case petitioner receives death threat: Telangana and AP HC directs police to take action

A Division Bench of the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the Superintendent of Police (SP), Tirupati Urban to file a report on the action taken on a complaint filed by a petitioner, who alleged that he had received a death threat..The petitioner, Dr Chakrapani Bharadwaja, had filed a Public Interest Litigation before the High Court alleging that eateries under license by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) were charging pilgrims exorbitant amounts in violation of their license conditions..Bharadwaja filed an additional affidavit today before the Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G Shyam Prasad..He alleged that one Dilli Babu Reddy, who is the Editor-in-Chief of a vernacular evening newspaper, had been acting as an intermediary for the license holders of the eateries, threatening him on three separate occasions with dire consequences should he not withdraw the case. The affidavit states,.“I submit that Dilli Babu Reddy has visited my house on, 3rd, 9th and 10th of December, 2017 and threatened me. In the words of Dilli Babu Reddy, the blackmail and the threat is “that the hotel owners will ruin my life & career, malign my name and reputation, and even KILL me in an accident, or book any false case and see to it that I end up in jail.”.Justice Ranganathan observed that things were getting murkier and murkier by the minute, and that he had never come across a case where a petitioner had made direct accusations against a person who had been named in an affidavit, along with corroborative evidence..“Huge sums of money are obviously involved”, he added..The Bench was also informed that the petitioner had filed two separate complaints before the SP Tirupati Urban and the Alipiri police, but no action had been taken..The Court then directed Superintendent of Police to file an action taken report by Tuesday, December 26, failing which he would have to be present in Court. The SP would be held personally accountable if the petitioner suffered even the smallest accident, the Bench added.