TDP MP’s son, aides vandalise toll booth

Ambarish Nimmala, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Member of Parliament Nimmala Kristappa was caught on camera vandalising a toll booth located close to the Karnataka Andhra Pradesh border on Monday.

While confirming the incident, police said Ambarish’s car, which had a valid permit, was stopped by an employee at the Bagepalli toll booth, located just 2 km from the border, and it sustained some damage.

Enraged by this and the rude behaviour of the toll booth employee, Ambarish, who was on his way to Bengaluru, is alleged to have called his aides and broken windows and damaged a computer monitor.

“Ambarish had a valid permit as all MPs get two permits. The toll booth employee allegedly behaved in a rude manner and did not open the barricade to let the vehicle pass,” Karthik Reddy, superintendent of police for Chikkaballapur district, said.

“We have registered a case under sections 427 (mischief causing damage), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against Ambarish and his aides. And we have booked a case under sections 504 and 506 of IPC against the toll booth employee,” Reddy said. “I was in a hurry to go to Bengaluru airport to pick up my father. The car in which I was travelling belongs to my father and it has the MP sticker with all the details. So, when the toll plaza people stopped my car, I told him the same thing and asked them to give me passage. They refused to do so, saying they would exempt it from paying toll fee only if my father travels in it,” Ambarish told HT.

He denied the allegation that he had vandalised the toll plaza. “I left the place immediately and went to the nearby police station to lodge the complaint against the toll plaza staff for causing damage to my car by closing the route with a barricade. Perhaps, my followers who were behind my car might have clashed with the toll plaza staff, resulting in the incident,” he said.

Expressing regret over the unfortunate incident, his father Krishtappa, also accused the toll plaza staff of behaving like rowdies repeatedly.