Shankar Rao grilled by cops for 7 hours

Former minister and cantonment MLA P Shankar Rao, who has been facing several controversies for quite some time, was grilled by Saifabad police for seven hours on Wednesday. He was questioned on the case pertaining to alleged derogatory comments made by him against Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Director General of Police. Rao had also made a few comments against the former DGP Aravind Rao. He had been asked to appear before the investigation officer again on Thursday at 11 am.

It was learnt that Rao failed to provide any evidence to the allegations he had levelled against the DGP. At one stage, Rao was said to have fainted due to exhaustion. He had recently undergone a bypass surgery. The questioning, however, continued after he was given medical assistance. Sources said that Rao could not give consistent replies to the questions and failed to defend his allegations. He was reported to have made some new comments against the DGP during the questioning. The police was likely to slap more cases against Rao for using blackmailing tactics, a source said.

Shankar Rao, accompanied by his daughter Sushmita, went to the police station in a black coloured dress with a black cloth tied around his mouth to register his protest for being called for interrogation. Earlier, he told reporters that the Chief Minister and the government was taking revenge against him since he was fighting against corruption. He said that if he had the tag of Reddy against his name he would not have been subjected to such a treatment.

On June 21, acting on a local court's direction, Saifabad police registered a case against Shankar Rao under sections 500 (Punishment for defamation), 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3 of the Police Incitement Act. Sushmita termed the police act as vengeance. "Although, my father is unwell, the police is causing trouble by registering cases against him," she said.