Actor Prakash Raj on Saturday, July 4, questioned the “vindictiveness” of the Andhra Pradesh government over the successive arrests of ‘Prashna’ Raavan despite the courts repeatedly granting bail.
On the night of Friday, July 4, Raavan was arrested yet again after a Magistrate in Machilipatnam refused the police’s plea to send him to judicial remand. This marked his fourth arrest since he was first taken into custody on June 30.
“Is this democracy? Is this why you formed the government? What is this vindictiveness?” the actor said in a video posted on his social media.
The actor also condemned the brazenness of the Jana Sena Party members who have repeatedly mobbed the police stations in an attempt to assault the YouTuber, who is a strong critic of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.
Criticising the government for their complicity, Prakash Raj said that Jana Sena members have been surrounding every police station to attack or “kill” Raavan. “They are discussing all this openly without any shame. Are you this arrogant?”
The actor pointed out that the government has no respect for the court for detaining him repeatedly, despite the courts granting bail.
Referring to Pawan Kalyan, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the TDP government, he said that the entire country is watching the harassment of Raavan.
Raavan was initially detained by the Pithapuram police for allegedly making “objectionable remarks” against Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.
According to Raavan’s lawyer, Jada Sravan Kumar, nearly 35 cases have been registered against his client across Andhra Pradesh. He alleged that the police are prepared to keep arresting him in one case after another until they succeed in obtaining judicial remand.
While he was initially picked up by the Pithapuram police and granted station bail by a magistrate on July 1, Raavan was immediately arrested again by the Sarpavaram police in a different case from 2025.
Lawyer and politician Jada Sravan Kumar said that Raavan’s remand was rejected by the magistrate again on July 2.
The Sarpavaram case primarily concerns a video report by Raavan, posted on his YouTube channel Prashna, in which he interviewed several children who alleged caste discrimination in a government school in Yendapalli, which falls under Pawan Kalyan’s constituency, Pithapuram. Raavan has been charged with engaging children to commit an offence under section 95 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for this video.
Despite securing station bail twice, Raavan was reportedly picked up yet again by the Inaguduru police in Machilipatnam over yet another case over alleged remarks against Pawan Kalyan, caste discrimination within the Hindu religion, and the Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration case.