Hyderabad: Telangana Police arrested three journalists from a private Telugu news channel, NTV on late Tuesday, for airing a controversial show that linked
a female IAS officer to a state cabinet minister, Tv9 Telugu reported.
NTV input editor Donthu Ramesh was detained at Hyderabad Airport while he was on his way to a vacation with his family while reporters Paripurna Chari and Sudheer were arrested from their homes, reports said.
Telangana Police also have carried out searches and questioned journalists at the NTV office and seized a CPU during searches.
SIT constituted to probe telecast:
The action comes after Telangana government ordered an inquiry into the broadcast of the show ‘Off the record’. Five days after the show aired, a special investigation team has been constituted to carry out the probe under the leadership of Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar.
Opposition slams the government:
BRS party working president KT Rama Rao condemned the arrest of the journalists and accused the Congress government of targeting the media.
“Strongly condemn the arrest of three journalists during the festival. Congress rule in Telangana reminds of Emergency days every single time,” he said in a statement on X.
He demanded the immediate release of the detained journalists and stated that none of the sections are non-bailable. “So why did the Telangana police decide to terrorise the journalists and their families with these midnight arrests? I request Telangana DGP to follow the due legal process and not play into dirty politics of Congress party and its lousy leadership,” he stated.
