Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son, Bandi Bhageerath, has been booked for alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Bandi Sanjay is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP representing Karimnagar.
Bhageerath was booked by the Pet Basheerabad police on May 8, based on a complaint from the minor’s family alleging that he sexually assaulted her at a farmhouse in Moinada on December 31, The Hindu reported.
Bhageerath has been booked under Sections 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 75 (sexual harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Section 11 and 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act, according to South First.
Hours before the FIR was registered, Bhageerath himself lodged a complaint against the girl’s family, alleging harassment and blackmail by them. An FIR was registered by Karimnagar I Town police based on Bhageerath’s complaint, in which he claimed that he met the girl through a common friend.
Bhageerath also reportedly said that he went to family functions, gatherings, and temple visits with her family on their invitation, and alleged that they eventually started coercing and intimidating him into marrying her. He claimed that the girl’s family threatened to file harassment complaints against him and demanded money. Bhageerath said he had paid them Rs 50,000, but they demanded Rs 5 crore, threatening that otherwise the girl’s mother would die by suicide.
The sexual harassment allegations against the BJP leader’s son have surfaced a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Hyderabad on May 10. He is meant to inaugurate and lay the foundation for various projects. He will also address a public meeting of the BJP, his first rally in Telangana since returning to power in 2024.
Bandi Bhageerath was previously involved in another controversy in 2023, when he was a first-year engineering student. He was booked for allegedly beating up a fellow student on the premises of his college, Mahindra University near Hyderabad, reportedly for misbehaving with the sister of his friend. A viral video showed Bhageerath using foul language and slapping the student.
Subsequently, another video of an assault also surfaced, where Bhageerath and a group of friends were seen thrashing another student.