Relief to Bandi Sanjay’s son; TS HC stays Bhageerath’s suspension by Mahindra University

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has granted a stay on the suspension of Bandi Sai Bhageerath, the son of BJP Telangana chief Bandi Sanjay, by the Mahindra University. The High Court, while staying the suspension, asked the university authorities to allow him to attend classes, as he did before.

The ruling of the high court came on a writ petition filed by Bhageerath challenging the university action against him. The Mahindra University authorities initiated action based on an inquiry report of the disciplinary committee after he was booked by the police for allegedly assaulting another student of the university.

A video showing Bandi Bhageerath slapping and brutally assaulting a batchmate went viral in social media in January this year. The incident caused enough tremors in political circles as well, turning out to be a major embarrassment for the BJP and its Telangana chief, in particular. The Telangana police registered a case against Bandi Sai Bhageerath under multiple sections of the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997.

Later, Bhageerath was reportedly arrested even as Bandi Sanjay claimed that his son had surrendered before the police. The video showed five to six students led by Bhageerath slapping and assaulting the victim, Sriram, on the university premises. After the viral video evoked widespread outrage and condemnation, the University authorities referred the matter to the disciplinary committee for a detailed inquiry.

Based on the committee’s recommendation, the university placed Bhageerath under suspension as a disciplinary measure.

Interestingly, soon after the police registered the case against his son, Bandi Sanjay released another video on his official Twitter handle featuring a ‘confessional statement’ by Sriram, the victim. In the video, Sriram was heard saying that he was beaten after he had misbehaved with the sister of a friend of Bandi Sai Bhageerath.

He said that he had sent an objectionable text message to the girl, leading to the attack on him. The victim also claimed that it was an old video, suggesting that the incident happened sometime back. Since then, they have all patched up, he said in the video amid speculation that he was coerced into making such a statement to save Bandi Sai Bhageerath’s skin.