Former Lok Sabha member Kothapalli Geetha was on Wednesday, September 14 arrested by the CBI in Hyderabad in connection with a bank loan fraud case. The arrest followed a CBI court's conviction of Geetha, her husband and two others on Tuesday for allegedly cheating a bank to get a loan of Rs 25 crore in 2009, which subsequently climbed up to over Rs 42 crore.

The CBI had earlier filed a chargesheet against Geetha and her husband Ramakoteswara, managing director of Visweswara Infrastructure, and others in the case. The court sentenced them to five years imprisonment besides imposing fine on them.

"Geetha was brought here last night. However, as per prison manual, she has to undergo COVID-19 test. So, the CBI officials took her back and brought her this afternoon," sources at Special Prisons for Women said.

Geetha, who won the Araku Lok Sabha seat representing YSR Congress in the 2014 general elections, left the party in 2018. She later joined the BJP in 2019. A year earlier, she had floated the Jana Jagruthi party. 

Geetha, who was elected on a YSRCP ticket to the Lok Sabha in 2014, was aspiring for a ticket from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, after it became apparent that the TDP would not field her, she floated the Jana Jagruthi party on the slogan of social justice. During the launch, Geetha said that education, women empowerment, health facilities and social justice are some of the areas her party would focus on.

Geetha hails from Addateegala of East Godavari district, and belongs to the Valmiki tribe. She is reportedly the first woman graduate from the tribal belt and holds Masters Degrees in Public Administration and Sociology from Andhra University. She is a former Deputy Collector, who resigned from all services in 2010.