HYDERABAD, OCT 8: P Indra Reddy, MLA and associate member of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was arrested by the police here today for allegedly abusing and slapping a Dalit.According to Ranga Reddy District Superintendent of Police Dinakar Prasad, Reddy had allegedly abused a 60-year-old Dalit, Lingampur Venkaiah, at Bulkapur in the district on October 3 by naming him by his caste and slapped him when the latter, along with a group of people, complained that houses were yet to be built for them under the weaker sections housing programme.Following a complaint from Venkaiah the next day, a case was booked against Reddy under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Prevention Act.Prasad said `prima facie' the offence had been established and Reddy was arrested and produced in a court at Chevella today. The court remanded Reddy to 14 days' judicial custody, following which he was lodged in the Chanchalguda jail.Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Congress president Y S Rajasekhara Reddyalleged that Indra Reddy had been falsely implicated without any ``proper inquiry''. He said Indra Reddy had decided to go on an indefinite fast while in custody to protest against his arrest.The state Congress president accused the Telugu Desam government of using the police to gain political mileage and foist cases against Congress leaders and workers. Congress workers were being warned that a ``rowdy-sheet'' would be opened against them if they did not join the Telugu Desam, he claimed.In a related development, police took into custody several supporters of Indra Reddy when they forced shopkeepers to down their shutters at Moinabad and Shamshabad in Ranga Reddy district to protest against their leader's arrest.
