AP high court directs police to follow BNSS norms in Pudi Srihari case

Vijayawada: The AP high court on Friday directed Nallapadu police in Guntur city to follow the provisions of Section 35(3) of BNSS in the case registered against YSRCP social media general Pudi Srihari for making alleged objectionable social media posts with morphed images of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. However, in the case registered by Kothapet police, the high court issued notices to the complainant as Srihari was already produced before the magistrate.Srihari moved two petitions seeking to quash the case registered against him at Kothapet and Nallapadu police stations. Arguing on his behalf, senior counsel Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy said that Kuppam police already arrested Srihari on the same charges and produced him before the magistrate, who rejected the remand and asked police to issue Section 35(3) notices.Sudhakar Reddy further said that registration of multiple FIRs on the same issue is illegal and a violation of Supreme Court directions. As the offences alleged were punishable with less than seven years of jail term, he sought directions to the police to issue notices. He said Srihari is ready to cooperate with the investigation and will attend before the investigating officer whenever called, abiding by the conditions imposed by the high court.Arguing on behalf of the police, public prosecutor Menda Lakshmi Narayana said that the petitioner was arrested as he is not cooperating with the investigation. He said that the petitioner was not available at his residence at Tadepalli and also at Anakapalli when police went there to issue notices.Considering the arguments on both sides, Justice Y Lakshmana Rao directed police to follow Section 35(3) of BNSS in the Nallapadu case and issued notices to the complainant in the Kothapet case as Srihari was already produced before the magistrate. Further hearing of the case was posted to May 5.