Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara Rao was on Sunday sent to jail for 14 days following his arrest in Andhra Pradesh's Karimnagar district before he could begin his 'fast unto death' for a separate Telangana state. Several party leaders were also held as violence erupted in parts of the region.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was going to Siddipet town in Medak, about 100 km from Hyderabad, when he was taken into custody by the police on the outskirts of Karimnagar town on charges of rioting, criminal conspiracy and inciting people to violence, police said.
The Mahabubnagar MP and other TRS leaders Narasimha Reddy and Vijayrama Rao were produced before a magistrate in Khammam town and were sent to jail for 14 days. They are likely to be shifted to a sub-jail in Khammam, about 200 km from Siddipet.
KCR had vowed a fight to finish by sitting on a fast from 1100 hrs IST near the Martyrs Memorial at Siddipet.
After being held, he was first taken to Warangal town but in view of the tense situation there he was shifted to Khammam, an official said. But his counsel alleged that he was booked by the Khammam police without jurisdiction.
TRS ideologue Jayashankar, party's floor leader in Assembly E Rajender and KCR's son Tarakarama Rao were also arrested.
Police personnel, including the Rapid Action Force (RAF), used force to disperse and arrest dozens of KCR's supporters who had squatted on the road to prevent his arrest. Two workers also doused themselves with petrol in an attempt to immolate themselves.
Police held hundreds of party leaders and workers in different districts of Telangana when they were heading towards Siddipet.
Tension prevailed in Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak and other districts of Telangana as TRS workers took to the streets, damaging buses to protest KCR's arrest.
Fearing more violence, police have sounded an alert in Telangana region, comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad. Personnel of the elite anti-Maoist force, Greyhounds, have also been deployed to deal with the situation.
In Siddipet, TRS legislator Harish Rao, who launched a 'fast unto death' following KCR's arrest, was also taken into custody by police.
High drama followed as Harish Rao threatened to commit suicide if he was arrested. He had even doused himself with kerosene. However, armed policemen, including personnel from Rapid Action Force (RAF), physically lifted him into a police vehicle.
In Hyderabad, KCR supporters damaged the statue of former chief minister Kasu Brahmanand Reddy, who is blamed by Telangana protagonists for suppressing the violent Telangana movement in 1969.
There was much tension on the Osmania University campus also as at least 10 students were injured in clashes that broke out between police and students following the TRS chief's arrest.
As the news of KCR's arrest broke out, students took to the streets in the campus and pelted stones at policemen deployed in large number since on Saturday.
A student leader said they would take a rally to the state secretariat to protest both KCR's arrest and the police action against the students.
TRS, which was floated by KCR in 2000 to revive the movement for separate statehood to Telangana, has given a call for the shutdown in the region on Monday.
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