Three T'gana ministers among 14 acquitted in 2011 rail roko case

All 14 accused, including three Telangana ministers, were acquitted today by a Railway court in Secunderabad in a 2011 'rail roko' protest case after the key witness turned hostile.

The protest was held at the Moula Ali Railway Station here on March 1, 2011, for carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

The special judicial first class court for the Railways acquitted Nayani Narasimha Reddy, currently Home Minister in the Telanagana cabinet, and his colleagues K T Rama Rao and T Padma Rao, along with the 11 accused, after the loco pilot of the held up passenger train (Godavari Express) turned hostile.
 

"Since the key witness turned hostile, it resulted in all the 14 accused getting acquitted," public prosecutor, Secunderabad Railways Division, N Srinivas Reddy said.

The case was registered against the 14 people by the Government Railway Police (GRP) after a group of protesters had stopped the train.

A total of four witnesses, including the loco pilot (now retired), the train's guard, the station master and the investigating officer, were examined during the trial.

"The key eyewitness could not identify the accused while other witnesses said that since they were at the railway station when the train was stopped, they could not see any of the accused," the prosecutor said.

Speaking to reporters after coming out of the court, Reddy said the Railways had suspended the train services in view of the call for the 'rail roko' given by the supporters of separate Telangana.

"We had faith in the judiciary and it was vindicated through today's verdict. We had not stopped any train and the court has given us relief," Reddy said.

Reacting to the judgement, IT Minister K T Rama Rao tweeted, "Just when I was about to heave a sigh of relief after completion of a railway court case today, lawyer informs me that six more are pending".

Similarly, on November 23 last year, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, the three ministers and others were granted relief by the court in connection with the cases pertaining to 'rail rokos' in 2011.

During 2011, as part of the 'Sakala Janula Samme' (general strike) organised in support of separate statehood demand, BJP and TRS leaders, along with members of pro- Telangana organisations, trespassed onto railway track and organised 'Vanta Varpu' (mass cooking).