The Andhra Pradesh Police department is not what it used to be. It is more polarised and divided than ever, and all of its loopholes have been revealed in front of the media, in a recent statement by DIG Palaraju, who is also the official spokesperson of AP Police.
DIG Palaraju read from a statement today, in which he was trying to accuse Senior officer AB Venkateswara Rao of several things. Through this statement, it was very clear that the AP Police department has taken a totally convoluted route, in trying to point its fingers and target AB Venkateswara Rao. Palaraju made several politically charged allegations on AB.
Palaraju said that everything that the then Chief Minister Chandrababu said to the media was approved by AB. However, what Palaraju failed to realize is that AB was the chief of the intelligence department, and everything that goes on in the state is his responsibility. What he also failed to realize is that Chandrababu was the CM and that it was perfectly alright for him to take AB’s approval before saying anything to the public.
With respect to YS Viveka’s murder case, Palaraju said that the inquiry into Viveka’s murder took place under AB’s supervision. He also accused AB of not giving all the information he had about the murder, to SIT. However, fact remains that AB had submitted every piece of information he had, to SIT, which he made clear in the letter he had written to the CBI.
Palaraju accused AB of pressurizing the then SP of Kadapa, Rahul Dev Sharma, to arrest members of the YS family, who were potentially linked to YS Viveka’s murder. Palaraju said that Rahul Dev did not do this as he was knowledgeable that there were not enough proofs to establish these members as being responsible for YS Viveka’s murder. What needs to be noted here is that anyone else in that place would have arrested these members of the YS family, for erasing all proofs of them being behind YS Viveka’s murder, but Palaraju is now trying to change the tone of this error.
ABV has also been accused of revealing the details of the Commissioner of Enquiries’ investigation into YS Viveka’s murder. Palaraju said that there’s no evidence to back the allegations that AB made in his media statement. Palaraju said that AB was not right in blaming fellow officers, but questions of what Palaraju is now doing, in blaming AB in the same way, are now surfacing.
On the whole though, from Palaraju’s statements, it is clear that the AP Police department is very much divided, and that there’s not going to be any unity among them in a long time to come.