Poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu has been named as accused in cases relating to political memes posted on social media pages run by his company Inclusive Minds. On December 13, the police raided the office of the political consultancy firm that manages the Telangana Congress war room. Though the raid was apparently based on five different complaints, details of only one have been disclosed by the police. In a complaint filed on November 23, a man named Samrat raised objections to a video spoof run on a Facebook page called 'Telangana Galam'. The video, was a popular scene recreated from the movie 'Mayabazaar' and made fun of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, IT minister KT Rama Rao, former MLA K Kavita and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the police, Sunil was made an accused in the case based on the statements of three of his employees — Monda Sriprathap, Shashank Kakineni, and Ishant Sharma — who were taken into custody during the raid on the night of Tuesday, December 13. During the raid at the company’s office, located in Hyderabad’s Madhapur, the police seized laptops, desktops, and phones.
A notice under section 41-A (notice of appearance before the police officer) of the Criminal Procedure Code was served to the three employees taken into custody. They have been booked under sections 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code. The police are looking into whether a notice needs to be served to Sunil too. Speaking to TNM, cyber crime Joint Commissioner Gajarao Bhupal said, “A notice has not yet been served to Sunil Kanugolu. We are looking into the matter and serving a notice is not a matter of urgency at the moment. He has been named as the prime accused along with the three other employees.
Sunil Kanugolu is a political strategist who has worked with several political parties ncluding the BJP, DMK and AIADMK in the past. Known as a person who keeps a low profile. Sunil joined the Congress in May 2022. Following the raid, the Congress party organised protests across all mandals against what they termed as “police high-handedness” and a “raid on democracy”. Meanwhile, the party has also moved a petition in Telangana High Court against the police action. Congress leader Mallu Ravi filed a habeas corpus petition seeking protection for the three persons arrested from the war room. He alleged that three men were being illegally detained.
Mindshare United handles political strategy for the Congress. The police claimed that they weren’t aware that it was Sunil’s office when they raided the place on Tuesday. They had apparently traced the location of the office using cyber crime tools.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, December 14, Gajarao said, “In a democracy, criticism is acceptable. Political criticism is needed, but to make personally targeted derogatory and abusive comments is unacceptable. This is outright abuse and doesn't come under criticism. If someone posts something they should be in a position to put it out openly without hiding who is putting it out. It is when they have to hide that such posts are put anonymously. FIRs have been registered. Using the latest cyber crime tools, we found the location where the posts were made from.” He also added, “In addition to the case registered by the cyber crime police, four other cases have also been registered at other police stations. Laptops and phones have been seized. There is nothing illegal that we have done and everything has been done as per law.”
Mindshare United handles political strategy for the Congress. The police claimed that they weren’t aware that it was Sunil’s office when they raided the place on Tuesday. They had apparently traced the location of the office using cyber crime tools.