Ponnam, Jeevan released from judicial custody

KARIMNAGAR: Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar, former minister T Jeevan Reddy and PCC secretary Y Sunil Rao were released from the district jail here on bail by a local court on Monday evening.They were arrested at Alugunoor crossroads on way to Jammikunta to participate in rail roko on Saturday. The court sent them to judicial custody and they were detained in Karimnagar district jail. On Monday, the additional judicial first class magistrate C Rajender Reddy granted bail to them after they furnished two sureties each.The court directed the trio to appear before the court on every first Monday of the month till a chargesheet was filed. Knowing about their release, Telangana activists and Ponnam’s followers congregated at the district jail to receive their leader. Speaking to mediapersons after coming out from the prison, Ponnam wondered why labour minister Danam Nagender, against whom an SC, ST atrocity case was registered, was not arrested though he behaved like a goon.“Is it because he is a Samaikyandhra leader?,” he questioned.“But police arrested me just for raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan,” he said.Fuming at the ministers from Telangana, he said it was unfortunate that they made no attempts to ensure release of Congress leaders who were detained in jails. “Instead, they suggested that employees should call off their strike,” he lamented. “We feel ashamed to say that chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, though belonging to our party, had got us arrested,” he said and added that MPs from Telangana would complain to Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar about the authoritarian attitude of the government.He called upon the people not to allow the T ministers enter villages till separate state was carved out. Later, the MP reached his camp office where he was accorded a warm welcome by his party men. Congress women’s wing town president G Jayasri welcomed the leaders applying vermilion and offering ‘harati’. Ponnam spewed fire at DGP Dinesh Reddy. He wondered how one who feared to express his opinion in court can instil confidence among police