VISAKHAPATNAM: Jana Sena leader and ‘Parannajeevi’ director Nutan Naidu was arrested here on Friday in connection with the sensational torture and tonsuring of a Dalit youth by his family recently. The Jana Sena leader, who is absconding since the time the case came to light, was apprehended in Udipi in Karnataka.

Disclosing this to the media, Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police Manish Sinha said that Nutan Naidu was detained when he was about to flee to Mumbai to evade the police. The commissioner also revealed that the arrest was effected only after establishing his involvement in the tonsuring case. The Pendurthi police in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh have recently registered a case under relevant sections of SC, ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act against Nutan Naidu’s wife Madhupriya and six others for brutalizing Srikanth, the Dalit youth right inside their house and then forcibly tonsuring as a punishment for stopping to work as a domestic help.

The police during their preliminary enquiry found out that the barbaric tonsuring was done at the behest of Madhupriya. All these seven accused have already been arrested in connection with the case which sent shockwaves across the state. They were subsequently remanded to police custody by a local court.

However, the twist in the tale that landed Nutan Naidu came when the police, during their probe, established that the Jana Sena leader had allegedly turned an imposter, by pretending to be retired IAS officer Ramesh Kumar and trying to take several officials for a ride in his bid to get his wife out of the case. He was also said to have spoken to his wife via video call, before and after the heinous tonsuring episode.

According to the details of the case, Srikanth, the victim was summoned to their house by Nutan Naidu’s wife and staff under the pretext of enquiring about a lost iPhone. Later, he was brutally assaulted by Madhupriya’s staff with sticks and metal weapons. In one of the swiftest actions, the Visakhapatnam police arrested all the seven including Nutan Naidu’s wife. The footage of CCTV camera from the house exposed Nuthan Naidu’s family and their brutality vividly, thereby sparking widespread outrage from all sections of people.