Vijayawada: Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma moved a fresh petition before the high court on Thursday, contending the registration of multiple FIRs against him at various police stations in Andhra Pradesh on the same issue. He sought directions to the state govt and the DGP, instructing police not to register fresh cases on the same social media abuse issue.
RGV’s counsel, Rajagopallavan Tayi, told the high court that registration of FIRs at multiple places in connection to the same alleged offence is violative of the constitutional rights of the petitioner. He said officials from various police stations are issuing notices for appearance, arguing that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offence.
Rajagopallavan further stated that following the registration of an FIR by Maddipadu police in Prakasam district, two more FIRs were registered at Thullur in Guntur and Ravikamatham in Anakapalli districts. He sought directions to stay all further proceedings in the subsequent FIRs registered after the one by Maddipadu police.
The state govt sought time to respond stating that the advocate general will argue the case. Considering the request, Justice BVLN Chakravarthy posted the matter for further hearing to Dec 2.
RGV earlier moved a petition for quashing of the case registered against him at Maddipadu police station and sought an interim order directing the police not to take any coercive steps. However, the high court turned down his plea, stating that it cannot give orders similar to bail orders and suggested RGV to file a bail application. Following the order, RGV filed anticipatory bail petitions in all cases, and the same are pending before the high court. He filed the fresh petition to direct the police to club subsequent FIRs with that of Maddipadu police station.
Police registered the cases on RGV for allegedly depicting chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, his son and IT minister Nara Lokesh, and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan in poor light with morphed images as part of promotions for his ‘Vyuham’ movie just before the 2024 general elections.
