StatesTelangana
Five held in Siddipet for burning banners showing Revanth Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar as Ravana
Videos of the Dasara night burning in a Koheda village spread on social media. Police acted on the sarpanch's complaint and have also booked the owner of the shop that printed the banners.
Key points
- Police arrested five men from Dharma Sagar Pally village in Siddipet district.
- The flex banners showed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Minister Ponnam Prabhakar in Ravana attire.
- A case has also been registered against the flex-printing shop owner.
Police in Telangana’s Siddipet district have arrested five men for setting fire to flex banners that showed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar dressed as Ravana during Dasara celebrations.
The burning took place on Tuesday night in Dharma Sagar Pally village, under Koheda police station limits, while villages across the state were setting traditional Ravana effigies alight to mark the festival. Videos of the banners going up in flames spread widely on social media.
The arrests followed a complaint from the village sarpanch, K Chandra Reddy. Police named those held as P Rakesh, L Harish, M Srikanth, G Ajay Kumar and B Abhisekh. They also registered a case against MD Arif, who owns the flex-printing shop where the banners were made, and said further investigation was under way.
Police have not said under which sections the five were booked, and there was no word by Wednesday evening on whether they had been granted bail. No comment from the Chief Minister’s office or from the minister had been reported.
Unlike the usual straw-and-bamboo effigies burnt at Dasara, these were printed flex banners carrying the two leaders’ images, which is why the shop that printed them is now part of the case.