Realising that the Telangana High Court would reject their bail plea, TRS leader Koneru Krishna and 15 others who allegedly attacked Forest Range Officer Anita, withdrew their bail petition on Tuesday.

For planting saplings on a contentious piece of land in Sarasala village, Kagaznagar, a group of angry villagers armed with sticks allegedly led by Krishna, brother of Sirpur MLA Koneru Konappa, had attacked the officer two months ago. The attack was caught on camera, and caused outrage, prompting Union Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar to condemn the incident.

In the attack, the Asifabad police had named 16 persons and 22 unidentified people. On Tuesday, the accused filed for a bail petition. Krishna in his petition said that “there was no overt act as to the commission of offences,” and claimed that the he would abide by all the conditions imposed by the court.

The petitioner’s counsel B Vijayasena Reddy told the court that Krishna’s political rivals were trying to implicate him, and further alleged that police booked his client without any evidence. He reportedly said that the forest officer sustained ‘minor injuries’, and further alleged that the Prevention of Atrocities (SC/ST) Act slapped on him was fabricated. The counsel argued that his client did not know the names and caste of the officials.

However, the public prosecutor, C Pratap Reddy opposed their plea. “If bail is granted at this time, the morale of womenfolk who were working in the forest department would be largely affected,” the public prosecutor told the Court, according to Deccan Chronicle.

As the court was reluctant to grant bail at this stage, the petitioners withdrew their plea, according to Times of India.

Justice Devi who was hearing the case asked how long it would take the police to complete their investigation and file their chargesheet, to which the public prosecutor replied that it would take another 2- 3 weeks, the report added.