A man from Kadapa was arrested for posting videos on TikTok which were allegedly abusive towards Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and his family members. Forty-two-year-old Machanuru Pullaiah from Mydukur was arrested on Wednesday based on a complaint by a local YSRCP leader.
According to the police, Duvvuru mandal YSRCP leader Kanala Jayachandra Reddy filed a complaint with the Duvvuru police after coming across a few videos that Pullaiah had uploaded on TikTok. Mydukur police said that Pullaiah had allegedly used abusive language against Jagan and some of his female family members.
Jayachandra Reddy told the police that the videos are provocative in nature, and could mislead people. He also said that Pulliah’s videos could hurt the sentiments of party leaders and alienate the Mydukur constituency from state party leaders.
Mydukur police said that they have arrested Pullaiah based on orders from the Kadapa district SP (Superintendent of Police) KKN Anburajan, and have sent him to judicial remand.
This is the latest among several instances where the police have arrested citizens for posting comments on a social media platform against members of the ruling YSRCP. In January, 24-year-old Avinash Chowdary, a software professional working in Hyderabad was arrested by the police in Macherla, Guntur for allegedly abusing YSRCP MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy in a TikTok video.
Avinash had reportedly made the video in response to Ramakrishna Reddy’s comments against former Chief Minister and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu. Earlier, Ramakrishna Reddy’s car was attacked by unidentified persons during a protest against the YSRCP government’s decision to decentralise the state capital. Following the incident, Ramakishna Reddy had blamed Naidu for the attack.
While police refused to reveal the cases filed against Pullaiah in Mydukur, in Avinash’s case, police had booked him under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
In August last year, police had arrested a man for making a video in which he criticised CM Jagan and Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar Yadav, alleging that they had poorly handled the situation of floods in the state. The man was found to be a professional actor who had previously appeared in TDP campaign videos.