Transferred Andhra top cops seek EC explanation, file defamation

Hyderabad: In a rare move, the two superintendents of police in Andhra Pradesh who were ordered to be transferred by the Election Commission and relieved from election duties based on the complaints of opposition YSR Congress have sought an immediate probe into the allegations against them while pleading innocence.

The two top cops have also filed complaints with the police seeking to register cases against the complainant YSR Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijaysai Reddy for causing damage to their reputation with false complaints.

This comes even as the state government was arguing before the Andhra Pradesh High Court that the EC has crossed its purview to order transfer of the state intelligence chief, who was not involved in the election duties. The counsel of EC justified the orders under the powers to the Commission and as initiated only after an adequate inquiry into the allegations. The opposition YSR Congress also impleaded in the case accusing the transferred cops of helping the ruling dispensation in the elections. The court, after hearing the arguments, has reserved the judgment.


In their letters to the EC challenging its orders to transfer them, the two top cops termed the decision of the Commission as unilateral and hasty. Rahul Dev Sharma, the superintendent of police at Kadapa, supervising the probe into the ghastly murder of YSR Congress senior leader YS Vivekananda Reddy, said he has an “unblemished record and this sudden transfer by the Election Commission is very demoralizing and has tarnished my reputation.”