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This story is from November 11, 2021

CBI taking Interpol help, using diplomatic channels to nab suspects in US who defamed judiciary

CBI taking Interpol help, using diplomatic channels to nab suspects in US who defamed judiciary
NEW DELHI: The CBI is seeking Interpol's assistance in securing deportation of two men who are currently believed to be in the US and are wanted in a case of posting derogatory remarks about judges and judiciary on social media platforms.
The agency is also using diplomatic channels in getting their hands on the two suspects — C Prabhakar Reddy aka “Punch” Prabhakar and Mani Annapureddy — in the case after locating their whereabouts through a Blue Notice.
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The CBI also moved through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) channel for gathering the information related to the Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, Facebook posts, tweets, YouTube videos from Facebook, Google details etc. of the suspects. A CBI spokesperson informed on Thursday that the agency had got arrest warrants issued against the two persons and had also filed six more chargesheets in the case.
The six accused were arrested by CBI on October 22 from different places in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and are presently in judicial custody. The suspects not only made comments on the judges but also made objectionable remarks on some of the court verdicts delivered by judges of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the CBI said.
During investigation, the CBI had earlier arrested five accused in July and August and also filed five separate chargesheets against them. With this, 11 separate chargesheets have been filed against the eleven accused arrested by the CBI so far in the case.
The investigative agency has also examined Lok Sabha MP Nandigam Suresh and former MLA Amanchi Krishnamohan, both belonging to YSR Congress, in the case.
The CBI's action comes in the backdrop of Supreme Court expressing its concerns over specialised agencies not doing enough in cases of maligning of judicial officers.

Earlier in August this year, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana rued that judges were not on priority for investigating agencies and that their complaints of being harassed or intimidated were not heeded despite specialised bodies like CBI being roped in.
The CBI had registered the case on November 11 last year against 16 people and taken over investigation of 12 FIRs from CID, Andhra Pradesh, in pursuance of the orders of the High Court. The original FIRs were registered on complaints of Registrar General of High Court of Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI has also had many of the objectionable posts removed and YouTube channels blocked from the social media platforms and public domain.
During investigation, a total of 13 digital gadgets including mobiles, tablets have been recovered, the CBI informed.
The agency collected call details records of as many as 53 mobile connections. Around 12 accused and 14 others were examined in the case. During examination, evidences from digital platform have also been collected using Digital Forensic Technique.
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About the Author
Raj Shekhar

Raj Shekhar Jha is an assistant editor with The Times of India, Delhi. He has been writing on internal security and crime for TOI since 2011.

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