Mumbai-based actress Kadambari Jethwani has alleged that she and her family members were illegally arrested by three Andhra Pradesh police officers to help rescue a Mumbai corporate tycoon, against whom she had sexually assaulted. A case of harassment was registered. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, he said the arrest and seizure of his cell phone and other electronic devices was illegal, and amounted to “deprivation of democracy and human rights”.
He said the arrest was carefully timed.
This happened when his sexual harassment case was scheduled to be heard in Mumbai and the case was closed due to his absence. He said he was arrested on Feb. 3 — days before the court case was scheduled to be heard, which had a Feb. 5-9 window.
All three officers – PSR Anjaniyulu (DG rank), Kanthi Rana Tata (IG rank) and Vishal Gani (SP rank) – have now been suspended.
The complaint against him, which led to his arrest, came from a senior leader of the YSR Congress, which was then ruling the state.
He is said to have cheated her in connection with a land deal.
He asserted that he or his family had never set foot in Andhra Pradesh, the entire complaint dropped. He said that there was no deal related to the land.
“There was a lot of political manipulation, money power involved… without that, this level of orchestration wouldn't have happened,” the actor told NDTV.
He said that the FIR against the corporate boss was registered in December. “Because of this FIR, the whole incident was done to protect the reputation of this Mumbai accused,” he added.
The leader himself could not have carried out this “retaliatory action with a solid financial motive, he said.” 18 or more cases registered against Kokla Vidyasagar till 2015… He has influence in Koklapatnam. There is a lot of political influence locally and he is a party strongman.”
An example of the irregularities is that his arrest took place before the first information report was filed on Kokla Vidyasagar's complaint – I am just stating the facts here, not saying anything,” she said.