The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) has sought Interpol’s help for deportation of two men who are currently believed to be in the United States in connection with a case involving derogatory remarks posted against judges and judiciary on social media platforms, a report published in Times of India said.
The central probe agency used Blue Notice to ascertain the whereabouts of the two suspects—C Prabhakar Reddy aka ‘Punch’ Prabhakar and Mani Annapureddy—and is using diplomatic channels to secure their extradition to India. It took the use of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty(MLAT) to collect information related to Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, Facebook posts, tweets, YouTuber videos from Facebook, Twitter, Google etc. of the suspects.
According to the sources close to the CBI, the agency had arrest warrants issued against the two suspects and had also filed six more charge sheets in the case. About 6 people from different places in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been already arrested and sent to judicial custody in relation to the case. They are accused of making disparaging remarks against judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court over certain verdicts.
Supreme Court had said judges are not priority of probe agencies
The CBI’s efforts to seek international assistance for nabbing two suspects in the case came after the apex court of the country expressed its displeasure with the probing agencies for their failure in bringing to book the accused. Earlier in August 2021, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana lamented that judges were not on priority for the investigating agencies and that their complaints of being harassed and intimidated were not being important enough to be addressed despite the involvement of specialised bodies like the CBI in the investigation.
Besides the 6 arrested, the CBI had arrested another 5 accused in July and August and also filed five separate charge sheets against them. A total of 11 charge sheets have been filed against all the arrested 11 accused while the CBI has sought assistance from Interpol to deport the remaining 2 accused in the case.
In addition to this, the probe agency had also questioned Lok Sabha MP Nandigam Suresh and former MLA Amanchi Krishnamohan, both belonging to YSR Congress, in the case. In a separate case in October 2020, the Andhra Pradesh HC had fumed over derogatory posts made by YSRCP leaders after they had accused the judges of being ‘partial’. The YSRCP leaders were criticising the HC after its request for a CBI probe into the ‘Amaravati scam’ was rejected by the High Court.
CBI took over the case in November 2020 and filed a case against 16 people accused of making derogatory remarks against the judges and the Indian judiciary. Until then, the CID, Andhra Pradesh, was probing the matter and had filed 12 FIRs in the case. The original FIRs were registered on complaints of Registrar General of high court of Andhra Pradesh. After taking over the case, the CBI had gotten social media companies to delete the contentious posts, along with getting YouTube channels blocked from the social media platforms and public domain.
