Ex YCP MLA arrested in kidnapping case

Andhra Pradesh Police arrested YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former MLA Shaik Mohammed Mustafa in an alleged kidnapping case. The former MLA from Guntur East was arrested in Gujarat late on Monday night by a police team from Nuzvid. The YSRCP condemned the police action and termed it political vendetta by the TDP-led coalition government.

Mustafa and his son Basheer were booked for kidnapping a tobacco trader’s son and two others following a dispute over tobacco procurement transaction.

A case was registered against them for kidnapping. Sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked against them.

Mustafa, who has a tobacco godown in Guntur, procures tobacco from traders. K. Suryachandram, a trader from Eluru district, used to sell tobacco to the former MLA. Recently, the trader had stopped selling tobacco to him due to the price drop.

On Saturday night when Suryachandram’s son Abhi, driver Balaraju and G. Durga Rao were on their way to Guntur to sell tobacco to another company, they were stopped at Nuzvid by Mustafa’s son Basheer and his aides. Demanding payment of dues, they allegedly kidnapped the three men and seized the tobacco laden vehicle.

Suryachandram claimed that when his son informed him, he spoke to Mustafa over the phone. The former MLA allegedly threatened that if he failed to come to his godown in Guntur with the money, he would not be able to see his son.

The trader lodged a complaint with the police. His son and two others were later released by kidnappers. Mustafa and his son went absconding while their aides involved in the kidnapping surrendered before the police.

YSRCP has condemned the police action against Mustafa and his son and termed it political vendetta by the TDP-led coalition government.

YSRCP president and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that Mustafa and his son had been implicated in a kidnapping case despite having handed over the person concerned to the police.

YSRCP Guntur District President and former minister Ambati Rambabu alleged that the former was being subjected to political vendetta through fabricated criminal cases.

He said that the coalition government led by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was misusing the police machinery to politically target YSRCP leaders after failing to confront the party democratically.

He said a routine business dispute involving an advance payment of ₹36 lakh for a tobacco transaction had been deliberately converted into a serious criminal case, including kidnapping, attempt to murder and SC/ST Atrocities charges, solely to deny Mustafa and his son Basheer bail.

Ambati said police violated legal procedures by conducting late-night searches in apartments where Muslim women were residing. He stated that officers entered nearly seven apartment complexes in plain clothes between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., harassed families and removed CCTV footage to conceal their actions.