A political satirist known for his critical comments and cartoons against Telugu Desam leaders, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son and Minister Nara lokesh was arrested by the police this morning.
A posse of policemen from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh raided rented house in Shamshabad near Hyderabad at around 3.30 am and whisked away Inturi Ravikiran without informing any of his family members.
His wife Sujana told the reporters that the police officials from Andhra made the house owner call Ravikiran outside and took him away without informing the family.
Guntur District Superinte-
ndent of Police Narayana Naik confirmed that Inturi Ravikiran was arrested on the complaint of Andhra Pradesh legislature Secretary that he had made some derogatory comment on the AP legislature.
Ravikiran, administrator of a satirical page ‘Political Punch’ on the Facebook, had recently posted a photo of Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly and Council building with the ‘A’ Certificate and ‘Only for Adults’, superimposed on it. Normally Film Certification Board issues such a certificate to films with explicit sexual and violent content meant for ‘Adults Only’.
The image published by Ravikiran on his page was seen as a satire on the happenings in the legislature. But it apparently touched a raw nerve and on the advise of the legislative Council Chairman Chakrapa-
ni, the Secretary, AP legislature Satyanarayana Rao lodged a complaint with the DGP and the Guntur police.
“A case has been registered against him under section 67 of the Information Technology Act and section 292 to Indian Penal Code,” the SP said.
“If anybody posts any derogatory comment against the State legislature, it will not be tolerated,” Satyanarayana Rao said.
Ravikiran had also made similar satirical comments by publishing the photos of the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara lokesh.
Many on the social media commented that his arrest was a vindictive measure not only for posting the morphed photo of State legislature but also for targeting the Chief Minister Naidu and his family.
TDP MlC Janardhan who had raised the issue of abusive comments on the Facebook with the Chairman alleged that Inturi Ravikiran was on the payroll of the Opposition YSR Congress party and running an abusive campaign against the ruling party.