Christ Gospel Team director Y Vijay Kumar was arrested for allegedly giving a derogatory speech against ‘Bharat Mata’. Though he was taken into custody on Sunday night, he was formally arrested by Hussainialam police on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Hyderabad deputy commissioner of police (South Zone) V Satyanarayana said Vijay Kumar, a native of East Godavari district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, had given an inflammatory speech in the city in August.
“Though Vijay Kumar is a resident of East Godavari, he comes to Hyderabad during the weekends and stays at Kothapet. He participates in religious activities on Saturdays and Sundays,” he added.
During one of his speeches, he reportedly made objectionable comments on Bharat Mata. Later, the hour-long speech was uploaded on social media.
Police had registered a case under Sections 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place), 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC against Vijay. As part of the investigation, Hussainialam police along with Task Force police took Vijay into custody on Sunday night and he was formally arrested on Monday.
However, members of Christ Gospel Team termed Vijay’s arrest as “a conspiracy”. “In the past, Vijay had apologised for the remarks. One should see the context in which Vijay made those remarks. On Monday too, police took Vijay for medical examination at 1 pm and till evening he was not taken to court. After court hours, Vijay was produced at the residence of a judge,” CGT joint director Prashant Kumar told TOI. Kumar claimed Vijay had made the objectionable remarks while explaining that “god is one”.
Courtesy: Times of India