Former Andhra Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu called on party leader Devineni Umamaheswara Rao’s family at their residence at Gollapudi in Vijayawada on Saturday, July 31. Devineni Uma has been arrested on charges of rioting and criminal conspiracy. Alleging that the police are filing ‘reverse cases’ against the TDP leaders, Chandrababu Naidu slammed the YSRCP government. “Does the Chief Minister have any shame left?” Naidu said. Calling the case against Devineni Uma atrocious, the TDP President alleged that the YSRCP attacked Devineni Uma and filed a “reverse case” against him.
"The YSRCP is rampantly destroying forests. As the government did not take any action against the illegal mining, Devineni Uma and others, after informing the police, visited the Kondapalli forest area and addressed the media there. But the police falsely filed a case against him claiming that he had attacked Dalits and made an attempt to murder others," the former CM alleged. Accusing the police of bias, Naidu alleged that the Director General of Police failed to uphold the law. “In my 40 years of politics I have never witnessed such injustice,” Naidu said.
On Tuesday Devneni Uma made a surprise visit to the Kondapalli forest area and alleged that the YSRCP party members with the help of Mylavaram MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad were illegally mining gravel in the forest. This later led to confrontation that spiralled into violence between the TDP and YSRCP supporters in the area. In the violence, nearly 1000 people participated, Krishna District Superintendent of Police Siddarth Kaushal said earlier. Devineni Uma was also allegedly attacked in the incident and his car was damaged. He was arrested on Tuesday night when he was protesting at G Kondur police station alleging police inaction against the perpetrators.
On Wednesday, Devineni Uma and 17 others are booked under Section 307 (Attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relavant sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and other charges including rioting, criminal conspiracy and disrupting public servants from discharging their duties of the Indian Penal Code. Presently, he is under a 14-day judicial custody in Rajahmundry Central Prison.