YS Sharmila, the leader of YSR Telangana Party and sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, was detained today after she manhandled police personnel during a protest.
Ms Sharmila was stopped by police on her way to the office of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged leak of questions for recruitment exams conducted by the state government.
#WATCH | Telangana Police detains YSRTP Chief YS Sharmila and shifts her to the local police station. She was detained after police officials received information about her visiting SIT office over the TSPSC question paper leak case pic.twitter.com/n6VaYgRarx
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2023
Videos shared by news agency ANI showed police personnel trying to stop Ms Sharmila’s car as it approaches the SIT’s office. Soon after the vehicle is brought to a halt, she is seen walking up to a policeman, slapping him and pushing him. As an angry argument breaks out between the officer and Ms Sharmila, other police personnel try to take her away. In another video, Ms Sharmila is seen slapping a police woman as the cops try to hold her hands and remove her from the area.
#WATCH | YSRTP Chief YS Sharmila manhandles police personnel as she is being detained to prevent her from visiting SIT office over the TSPSC question paper leak case, in Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/StkI7AXkUJ
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2023
Telangana is witnessing widespread protests over alleged leak of question papers for recruitment exams conducted by Telangana State Public Service Commission. At least 11 people have been arrested and three exams to fill up government vacancies cancelled ever since the allegations came to the fore.
The Opposition parties have targeted the K Chandrashekar Rao government over the alleged leaks.
Ms Sharmila, who has been pushing hard to carve out an independent political identity in Telangana, has been consistently raising the paper leaks issue. Last month, she was detained from a protest in Hyderabad over the issue.
The younger sister of Jagan Mohan Reddy, Ms Sharmila recently held a march across Telangana. She has stressed that her party has nothing to do with her brother’s YSR Congress Party, which is in power in Andhra.