YSRCP's Pudi Srihari gets bail in Chittoor over abusive post targeting Naidu
A court in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday, 1 May 2025, granted bail to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) General Secretary (Media) Pudi Srihari, who was arrested for an allegedly abusive social media post targeting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The Additional Junior Civil Judge Court in Kuppam granted the relief after hearing arguments from both sides.
Arrest and Bail Timeline
Police arrested Srihari in Bengaluru early on Wednesday morning and subsequently brought him to Kuppam, where the case was originally registered. He was produced before the court on Thursday, which then granted him bail. This was not his first brush with arrest in this case — Srihari was first arrested on 15 April in Vijayawada over allegations of posting objectionable content with morphed images of Chief Minister Naidu.
He was produced before the trial court on 16 April, which rejected the police's petition to send him to judicial remand. The Andhra Pradesh High Court later suspended that trial court order, paving the way for his re-arrest. Srihari had approached the Supreme Court apprehending arrest, but the apex court declined to intervene in the High Court's order.
Controversy Over Arrest Timing
YSRCP General Secretary (legal cell) and former Advocate General P. Sudhakar Reddy alleged a procedural irregularity, claiming that police arrested Srihari at 5:45 am but told the court he was arrested at 11:45 pm. This discrepancy, if substantiated, could have significant legal implications for the case. Sudhakar Reddy stated that the YSRCP has
