Umesh ‘flees’ as warrant is issued

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With the Nampally court issuing a non-bailable warrant against senior IPS officer Umesh Kumar, his arrest seems imminent. Though the NBW was to be executed by June 21, the senior IPS officer and Godavari Valley Development Authority chairman would have been arrested on Thursday as a team of CID officials reached his Jubilee Hills residence at around 5 pm to take him into custody. However, Mr Kumar had left his house at around 4.30 pm in his official car leaving his gunmen behind. Investigations revealed that after travelling some distance, he had released his car and gotten into an autorickshaw.

“A warrant has been issued by a court and we went to execute the same. We couldn’t execute the warrant as he wasn’t available. We examined his two security guards and the driver but they couldn’t throw any light on his whereabouts,” said CID additional DG S.V. Ramana Murthy.

Meanwhile, Mr Kumar’s counsel Pappu Nageshwara Rao said they would challenge the warrant in the High Court on Friday and wondered how the CID officials got the court orders so soon. “We will file a plea in the High Court seeking to quash the NBW issued against him. We are also planning to file a plea seeking a direction to shift the case to a different court as it appears that the magistrate is prejudiced and influenced,” he said. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanga Reddy had issued the warrant against Mr Kumar.

Mr Kumar’s counsel had filed another plea in the HC a few days back seeking the appointment of an independent Public Prosecutor to handle the case while contending that present CID counsel Vyjayanthis Reddy was influencing the magistrate at the behest of some influential persons. The petition is yet to come up for hearing.