IN ONE MONTH, 5 ARRESTED FOR DEFAMATORY POSTS AGAINST JUDGES, SAYS CBI

The CBI has arrested five people for allegedly posting defamatory content against judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Supreme Court on social media, officials said on Sunday. The role of a Lok Sabha member, Nandigam Suresh, and Amanchi Krishna Mohan, both of the YSR Congress, are under scanner in the case, and both have been examined by the agency in its effort to unearth a larger conspiracy, they said. “To investigate the larger conspiracy, the CBI has also examined certain persons, including an MP and an EX-MLA, and continued investigation into the role of other persons who were not mentioned in the FIR,” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

The agency had on Saturday arrested two people -- Pattapu Aadarsh and Lavanuru Samba Siva Reddy -- from Andhra Pradesh. Earlier, the CBI had arrested Dhami Reddy Konda Reddy and Pamula Sudheer on July 28, while Lingareddy Rajasekhar Reddy, who was residing in Kuwait, was arrested on July 9 when he landed in India, the officials said.

“The agency was monitoring his movements. The moment he landed in India, the officers took him into their custody”, an official said. The arrests were made by the CBI in the case in which it had booked 16 individuals for allegedly posting defamatory content against the judges.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed the agency to probe the case and submit a report to it in a sealed cover.

After registration of the case, the CBI traced 13 of the 16 accused named in the FIR on various digital platforms, Joshi said.