Andhra MP evades arrest, flies to Far East

Political rivals of the Telugu Desam Party MP Bhuma Nagi Reddy have alleged that the Nandyal MP managed to accompany his legislator wife Shobha Rani privately on a government-sponsored tour of the Far East despite having two non-bailable arrest warrants (NBWs) against him at the time.

They said the police in Kurnool were "unusually lenient" while trying to execute the warrants issued by the first additional district sessions judge P. Satyanarayana Murthy on September 2 after the controversial parliamentarian failed to turn up in court on that day.

The Kurnool police sent copies of the warrant to the director-general of police for execution instead, and by the time they moved in to arrest the MP, he had left.

This at least was the official explanation of the additional superintendent of police in Kurnool where officials recently acquired ill-fame after it was revealed they helped the wanted criminal Abu Salem to get fake passports.

On the day of the hearing, Reddy's lawyer claimed in court his client had a "pressing engagement" in his village Allagadda and pleaded for an adjournment.

The court posted the next appearance for September 11 and when he did not turn up issued another NBW. The police obliged the MP again when he missed the next scheduled hearing too.

He boarded the flight to China the next day with his wife who was part of a paid-up trip for all state legislators to several countries to study economic development there.

The MP was not officially invited but may have agreed to pay for his own fare. The judge issued two more adjournments - September 13 and 23 but the MP missed both these. The judge set the next hearing for September 30.

The MP is the main person accused in the murder of Ramanatha Reddy in a bomb attack on June 25, 1998 in Rudravaram. The attack took place while Ramanatha Reddy was attending a political rally.

Two Congress party politicians - G. Prabhakar Reddy and G. Subhash Reddy - who were present at the rally later filed a criminal case against Nagi Reddy.

The MP who was scheduled to return last night, and who was the Rudravaram mandal president when the attack occurred, later filed a court petition claiming he was at a mandal meeting that day and had nothing to do with the bomb attack.

Last year, the MP's father-in-law, M.V. Subba Reddy, was sacked from the state cabinet on corruption charges.