Zero FIR Filed Against ABN RK!

After having gone to the extremes in targeting the Opposition TDP by dragging Chandrababu Naidu’s wife Nara Bhuvaneswari too into muddy politics, the YCP government shifted its focus to rein in the ‘yellow media’.

As part of it, the Andhra Pradesh-CID sleuths filed a ‘zero FIR’ against ABN-Andhrajyothi managing director Radhakrishna stating that he had obstructed them from discharging their duties when they were probing into the Rs 242-crore scam unearthed in the AP Skill Development Corporation. The sleuths stated that RK and three others obstructed them from conducting raids on retd. IAS officer K. Lakshmi Narayana’s house in Hyderabad. The retd. IAS officer is accused No. 2 in the case.

The Zero FIR was filed following a complaint from the CID circle inspector at CID headquarters police station in Amaravati. The FIR copy was sent to the magistrate court in Guntur and it would be sent to the Jubilee Hills police station in neighbouring Telangana later.

The entire episode smacks of foul play as there is a lot of time lapse between the incidents that occurred in Hyderabad and Amaravati. CID sleuths raided Lakshmi Narayana’s house on Friday morning and the retd. IAS officer was shifted to Star Hospitals in Hyderabad after he complained of some uneasiness. Reportedly, the sleuths reached Vijayawada the same night.

However, the complaint against RK and three others was lodged at 7 pm on Saturday and the FIR was registered two hours later, around 9 pm.

RK and Lakshmi Narayana have been friends since long and on Friday, the news channel MD reached his friend’s house after knowing about his illness. At that time, even the CID sleuths present at his house also identified him and urged him to stay away from the premises till their search was completed, to which he obliged.

Legal experts criticized the AP-CID for lacking basic knowledge and purpose of a Zero FIR. Usually, such an FIR is registered to help accident and rape victims so as to enable the police to swing into action immediately. In a bid to avoid delay in police entering the scene during emergency cases on the grounds that the case does not fall into their jurisdiction, Zero FIR was introduced after the sensational Nirbhaya case occurred in Delhi. Zero FIR eliminates the restriction of boundaries relating to police jurisdiction.

The CID should have been filed in Jubilee Hills police station if RK and others had really obstructed the sleuths from carrying on with their duties. There is no need of a Zero FIR in this case.

Instead, the sleuths reached Amaravati and then sent the ‘Zero FIR’ through the court to Jubilee Hills which is illegal, improper and unethical, they said and added that it is not valid.

It would be better if the authorities in AP think twice before filing cases and approaching courts as they are making themselves a laughingstock in front of the judiciary.