Human trafficking case: AP Congress demands CID probe

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president K Keshav Rao on Saturday demanded that the state government order a CID probe into the alleged human trafficking case by Telangana Rashtra Samithi members of Parliament and legislators in the state.

Addressing mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan, the APCC headquarters in Hyderabad, Keshav Rao termed the alleged involvement of elected representatives like MPs and MLAs in human trafficking by obtaining fake passports as most unfortunate.

Stating that such 'heinous crimes' by elected representatives would harm the democratic values and lower the image of Parliamentary system, he said a thorough inquiry was necessary.

Keshav Rao said that the state government should take the allegations made by two senior TRS MPs against each other seriously, hold a thorough inquiry into the entire human trafficking episode and bring the accused to book.

Regretting the manner in which TRS leaders K Chandrasekhar Rao and A Narendra made specific allegations against each other quoting some evidence, the Congress chief said that it would send wrong signals to the people.

"One TRS MP is bringing the facts to light, one MLA has surrendered before the court, another MLA is found guilty almost. Many reports are appearing in the media and the police are confirming them. In such circumstances, there is no alternative except a CID probe. I will talk to the chief minister in this regard and write to the state home minister to order a CID inquiry," he said.

Referring to personal accusations of TRS legislators and MPs against their party leadership, he said that though it was the internal affair of that party, the episode would cause great damage to that party.

Keshav Rao, however, opined that this episode would not have any impact on separate Telangana movement as "the movement is linked with the sentiments of the people, but not with the leadership."

He said that he was very much worried about the lowering of values in political life. He maintained that people would lose confidence in the democratic system itself and would have no respect for the elected representatives if cases of this dimension were allowed to go unpunished.