On Friday, December 2, the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed the case registered by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) against senior journalist Ankababu Kollu for forwarding WhatsApp messages that implied that relatives of the Chief Minister's office were involved in the case of unauthorised gold movement at Gannavaram airport from the UAE.
Ankababu had forwarded a telugu message he had received on September 9 translated as "Wife of CMO official caught smuggling gold.” At Gannavaram Airport, DRI representatives from Hyderabad seized the gold and detained the woman. Days later on September 22, at 7:30 pm, eight CID agents showed up at his house, took his and his wife's phones, and asked him to accompany them to the nearby police station.
The police detained Ankababu, a 73-year-old journalist based on a complaint lodged by Tirupati Ramesh, who works as manager at the CMO. Ankababu was charged with violating several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), such as 153-A (Promoting animosity between two groups), 505(2) (Making statements that are likely to cause public disturbance), and 201 r/w 120-B. (Criminal Conspiracy)
The High Court said that the Supreme Court has made it clear in a number of cases that only criminal charges under Sections 153A and 505A should trigger the registration of 120B. It came to the conclusion that there should be concrete proof that the accused used words, writings, and other methods to incite hostility between the two communities' respective religions, castes, tribes, and groups and viewed that no remarks in this situation could undermine religious harmony.
“I forwarded the message which was reported by several channels and they arrested me. The court has now ruled the case invalid,” Ankababu told TNM. Ankababu is a diabetic patient and suffers from heart issues and hypertension. He had told TNM in an earlier interview that the CID officers treated him well and did not verbally abuse him in any way and his vital signs were also checked to make sure he was doing fine.
Earlier, the Prohibition and Excise Court in Guntur's Special Judicial Magistrate granted the journalist bail on September 24.The judge asked CID officials for an explanation regarding the arrest and dismissed the remand petition as they did not follow the proper procedure. Ankababu was granted bail after the court determined that he would have provided notices required by section 41A of the CrPC.