'Block trains, get booked'

The Andhra Pradesh police chief warned Thursday that non-bailable cases would be lodged against those blocking trains during the ongoing protests in Rayalaseema and Andhra regions against the decision to carve out a separate Telangana state.

Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy said those blocking trains or damaging railway property would be dealt with firmly. He advised protestors to desist from staging rail blockades.

The DGP said 'rail roko' would not be allowed under any circumstances and asked the protestors to call off such protests. He said police had taken strong measures against 'rail roko' in Telangana in the past and warned that similar measures would be taken in other regions.

"There will be no objection to peaceful and democratic protest but nobody should take law into own hands," he said at a news conference here.

He asked government employees of all regions not to hold any protest on the premises of government offices in Hyderabad.

He said cases were already lodged against people for damaging statues of national leaders in Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and Andhra).

Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader J. Krishna Rao alleged that Dinesh Reddy was biased in favouring protestors in Seemandhra. He demanded the government to suspend the DGP.

Reddy denied allegations that police was biased. "Policemen discharge their duties without discrimination on the basis of religion, caste or region," he said.

The DGP said the same restrictions imposed in Osmania University earlier were being enforced in the Seemandhra universities.