The Hyderabad High Court on Monday quashed a criminal case against Andhra Pradesh minister Ravela Kishore Babu's son Susheel, who was earlier arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a 20-year-old woman teacher.
The court quashed the case on grounds that the alleged victim herself had failed to identify Susheel as the culprit.
According to a report in the Times of India, Susheel's counsel said it was unfair to continue the case even when the alleged victim herself said that she had never seen the accused.
Police had registered cases against Susheel and his driver M Ramesh under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC. Susheel was arrested on March 6.
According to the complainant, a teacher, a car with "MLA" sticker on the windshield had followed her when she was returning from school.
"The driver and a passenger in the car, who were drunk, passed lewd remarks and asked me to get in. The passenger, who had a tattoo on his hand, tried to pull me inside," she said in the complaint.
Susheel had denied these allegations.
Following their arrest, the duo was released on bail, and filed a petition to quash the pending case against them.
The TOI report adds:
They even produced a copy of the statement given by the alleged victim wherein she described Susheel and Ramesh as strangers whom she never met.