VIJAYAWADA, SEPT 28: Police on Tuesday arrested Telugu Desam Party Member of the Legislative Assembly Ratnakumari in connection with the death of a cycle-rickshaw trader at her residence here on Monday, police said.Ratnakumari was produced in the court of the fifth metropolitan magistrate, who remanded her to police custody till Wednesday, city Police Commissioner Sundeep Lakatiya told PTI.He said the rickshaw trader Ranga Rao (56) was allegedly taken away by the MLA's followers to get back some money Ratnakumari had paid for new rickshaws.Rao, who collapsed in the compound of the MLA and was frothing at the mouth, was admitted to a hospital where he was declared dead, Lakatiya said.Ranga Rao's friend Eswar Rao had filed a complaint saying the former was kidnapped, wrongfully confined and tortured to death by the MLA's followers. The police commissioner said efforts were on to arrest some more of the MLA's followers.Ratnakumari was elected to the State Assembly on a Congress ticket butswitched loyalties to the TDP and was an associate member of the party.Addressing a press conference on Monday, Ratnakumari had said Ranga Rao's was a natural death and she was in no way connected with it.Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman G Muddukrishnama Naidu had demanded Ratnakumari's arrest. Communist Party of India MLA K Subba Raju too demanded that the culprits involved in the murder be arrested.
