YSR Congress MP Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnam Raju moves Supreme Court seeking bail in sedition case, alleges "indiscriminate beating" by Police

Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnam Raju, the Member of Parliament (MP) belonging to YSR Congress party who was arrested by Andhra Pradesh’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Friday on charges of sedition, has moved the Supreme Court against a May 15 order of the Andhra Pradesh (AP) High Court denying him bail. .Raju, in his appeal before the Supreme Court, stated that the High Court did not consider any of the grounds for bail and instead directed him to approach sessions court for bail. .The FIR against Raju was registered by State CID on the basis of statements made by him on various digital platforms which the Police claimed amounted to "hate speech" and creating enmity between castes and religions. .Raju, who is an outspoken critic of his own party head, Chief Minister (CM) YS Jaganmohan Reddy had filed an application before special CBI court few weeks ago seeking cancellation of bail granted to Reddy in pending cases before the CBI court..Raju has contended before the Supreme Court that the CM is "misutilizing" the State police to frame his political opponents and keep them in jail "so that they will not accuse him of being the person who had spent time in jail as an under trial.".Further, it was contended that the High Court did not look into the facts and circumstances of the case and that his arrest would amount to violation of his freedom of speech and expression. .He submitted that the present case is "nothing but a case of personal vendetta" of CM Reddy since Raju had filed an application seeking cancellation of bail granted to Reddy in cases against the CM. .After the May 15 order of the High Court denying bail, Raju was produced before the Magistrate where he informed the court that there was "indiscriminate beating" meted out to him by the State CID..Later, Justices C Praveen Kumar and Lalitha Kanneganti of the High Court constituted a Medical Board headed by the “Superintendent of Government General Hospital, Guntur to examine Raju and it was also directed that the same be videographed by the hospital authorities. "The videographed cassette should be kept in a sealed cover and be handed over to the Principal District Judge, Guntur District, who in turn shall forward the same to the Vacation Officer of the High Court Mr.M.Nageswara Rao, who shall keep it in safe custody," said the late evening order of the High Court. This order was passed after a letter was moved before the High Court stating Raju was beaten by police. The High Court has now listed this case of medical examination today at 12 pm..The lawmaker urged the top court to hear his bail case urgently stating that the health of the accused is "feeble" particularly since he recently underwent a heart surgery.An application for urgent listing was also moved by Raju before the apex court.