Dalit leaders concerned over health of Kodi Kathi Srinu in Vizag jail

Visakhapatnam, Jan 23: Dalit leaders who met Janipalli Srinivas alias Kodi Kathi Srinu said that he is continuing his indefinite fast in Visakhapatnam Central Jail demanding justice while his condition has started to deteriorate.

Srinu is accused in a knife attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Leaders of a Dalit group met Srinu in jail in the presence of his lawyer on Monday and claimed that a jail official and another prisoner were carrying him in their hands.

Dalit Vedika leader Boosi Venkat Rao voiced concern over the health of Srinu as jail authorities are not even issuing health bulletin.

The Dalit leaders also alleged that there is pressure on Srinu to end the hunger strike and claimed that his life is in danger.

Demanding the jail authorities to release the health bulletin, Srinu’s lawyer Abdus Saleem has approached the District Legal Service Authority.

The Dalit man is said to be on fast, since January 18, demanding bail or trial.

Srinu, a worker at a food joint at the Visakhapatnam airport, had attacked Jagan Mohan Reddy, then leader of opposition, on October 25, 2018 at the airport with a knife, injuring him on the shoulder. The security personnel had overpowered Srinu. As he had used a knife normally used in cockfights, he came to be called “Kodi Kathi (rooster knife) Srinu.

He has since been languishing in jail but for a brief period when he was out on bail.

As Jagan Mohan Reddy, who became the chief minister in 2019, has been avoiding attending the trial court to depose before the judge, the trial could not start.

Srinu’s family has been demanding that either he be released on bail or put to trial.

His mother J. Savitri and brother J. Subba Raju also sat on indefinite fast in Vijayawada from January 18. As their condition deteriorated, the police forcibly shifted them to a hospital on January 21. On the request of leaders of opposition parties, who assured full support to the family, they called off the fast.

The attack on Jagan Mohan Reddy a few months before the 2019 elections had created a political sensation.

The TDP government had handed over the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police but Jagan Mohan Reddy had refused to record his statement saying he had no trust in agencies controlled by the state government.

Suspecting a conspiracy by the TDP, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had moved the state high court, seeking a probe by a central agency into the case. Based on the court direction, the Centre handed over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which registered the case on January 1, 2019.

Srinu was granted bail by the NIA Court Vijayawada on 23 May, 2019, and released on 25 May. However, the bail was cancelled on August 16 the same year after the NIA approached the state high court.

After nearly four years of investigation, the NIA informed the court on 13 April, 2023, that there was no conspiracy behind the attack.

However, Jagan’s legal team claimed that there was indeed a conspiracy to eliminate him, as the accused had worked under a TDP leader.

The NIA Court Vijayawada dismissed Jagan’s appeal on 25 July, 2023. However, the order was challenged in the high court and has since been pending. Srinivas’s bail plea, too, has been pending before the high court.