Lakshmi Parvathi, wife of late former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N T Rama Rao, on Monday lodged a complaint with the cyber crime wing of the Hyderabad police and demanded action against a person who was allegedly spreading rumours about her on social media, with an intent to defame her.
According to Parvathi, a person named Koti used to work for her and help her with operating her smartphone, as she was not well-versed with it. However, taking advantage of this, he allegedly sent several messages from her phone to his number, and was now spreading screenshots of the same on social media.
Parvathi, who is a leader of the YSRCP, the opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, met with Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) M Mahender Reddy and submitted her complaint. The DGP, in turn, forwarded it to Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the DGP, Parvathi said, “Nothing of this sort has ever happened to me before. My character is being assassinated by a person identified as Koti who was like a family member. He posted defaming content about me on social media on April 4. Some regional television channels are deliberately trying to defame me. I am aged over 60 years. People are not even sparing the wife of a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. What then could be the situation of other women? I will now stand by all those who face character assassination and fight on their behalf."
The police have registered a case under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
NTR had married Parvathi, his biographer, just before the 1994 elections, which saw TDP returning to power in the state. However, her growing interference in party affairs and administration upset NTR's son-in-law N Chandrababu Naidu, who staged an internal party coup and took control of the TDP in 1995. NTR had launched a campaign against Naidu for 'backstabbing'. He passed away in January 1996 at the age of 72.
Lakshmi Parvathi then founded the NTR-TDP but soon went into political oblivion. She later joined the YSRCP founded by Jagan Mohan Reddy.