Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered a probe after his government faced flak for taking a farmer, arrested in connection with the attack on government officials, to hospital in handcuffs and shackles after he suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile, BRS working president KT Rama Rao condemned the incident and called it inhumane while accusing the Congress government of being vindictive against the farmers who stood up to the attempts to acquire their land at a paltry sum. Rao also demanded the intervention of the governor and Telangana High Court in the incident.

According to a statement released from his office, the CM took serious note of the incident in which police personnel took Hirya Nayak, the arrested farmer to Sangareddy hospital in handcuffs. He enquired about the incident from officials and “expressed his anger” questioning why he was being handcuffed even when he was being taken to the hospital. He ordered higher officials to conduct an inquiry and submit a report while warning his government would not tolerate such actions.

However,KT Rama Rao claimed that Naik had suffered a second heart attack due to the lack of timely medical action. Even when he was brought to Sangareddy hospital a police vehicle was used instead of an ambulance. It was only after the intervention of BRS that the government conceded to shift him to Hyderabad for advanced care. He also said that the other farmers detained in the same case were also suffering from deterioration of health condition such as Raghavendra, Basappa, and even former MLA of Kodangal P Narender Reddy. “The CM is enjoying feasts and entertainment in Jaipur while Telangana’s tribal farmers are languishing in jail, fighting for their lives. If Rahul Gandhi truly cares about tribals, he must immediately instruct the Congress government to withdraw all cases against these farmers,” said he, adding that bringing Nayak in shackles and handcuffs was a violation of Constitutional rights and breached several provisions of the BNSS Act.

A month back farmers opposing land acquisition for a pharma company had attacked the district collector as well as other senior officials and vandalized their vehicles. Following this police arrested 17 farmers and the former BRS MLA Patnam Narender Reddy. The incident snowballed into a major controversy since it is part of the chief minister’s constituency, Kodangal.