AP minister exonerated in blast case

A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh high court has dismissed a public interest petition seeking the prosecution of state Health Minister Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao for his alleged involvement in a bomb blast in Narasaraopet town on the eve of 1999 assembly elections.

In its 19-page judgment delivered on Wednesday, the bench upheld the action of the Union government in refusing to grant consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute the minister.

Kondapalli Venkateswarlu, who had contested the 1999 polls from Narasaraopet on an Anna Telugu Desam Party ticket, had filed the PIL.

The bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Motilal B Naik and Judge Rohini, found the action of the petitioner motivated, since he was a political opponent and profession rival of the minister.

"The petitioner does not qualify the test of being public spirited person to file the instant public interest writ petition," the bench said.

The petitioner, on his own accord, had stated that he had grievances against Sivaprasada Rao in the medical profession as well as in the political field and they both contested the assembly elections from the same constituency, the bench noted.

Two blasts had taken place in the residence-cum-nursing home of Rao, who was then panchayat raj minister, on August 29, 1999, when he was campaigning for the polls. Four persons, who died in the incident, were stated to be the minister's followers. Sivaprasada Rao said he had nothing to do with the blasts since he had leased out the premise.

Subsequently, a division bench of the high court ordered a CBI enquiry into the incident after a former Congress MP, Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy, filed a petition. After conducting a probe, the CBI dropped the case when the Union home ministry did not grant permission to prosecute the minister.

The latest petitioner had challenged the action of the home ministry, stating that the refusal to permit prosecution was illegal and required judicial review.

The bench perused the records submitted by the Union government and concurred with the view of the attorney general, who felt that the CBI investigation did not reveal any complicity of the minister in the case. "As on the date of the incident, the premises was under lease to one Kavitha, wife of Dr K A Babu, who was running a polyclinic in the premises," the bench observed.