Top officer transferred after arrest of Revanth

The Election Commission yesterday ordered the transfer of the Vikarabad Superintendent of Police T. Annapurna, a day after the state Congress Working President Revanth Reddy was arrested by the police.

The poll panel has appointed Avinash Mohanthy the new district Superintendent of Police.

The Election Commission directed the Telangana Director-General of Police not to use the services of Annapurna for election purposes.

The action comes a day after Revanth Reddy, also a Congress candidate from Kodangal constituency, was arrested in a raid on his house past midnight.

Court faults police

Police said he was taken into preventive custody as he had threatened to disrupt the election rally scheduled by caretaker chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao at Kosgi in Kodangal constituency.

The Hyderabad High Court had faulted Telangana police for the manner in which Revanth was arrested, and wondered if the state had become a banana republic. The court summoned the advocate-general to produce the evidence on which the police acted against Revanth.