Gowtham Pothagoni, a journalist with digital news portal Telugu Scribe, has been arrested and charged with “attempting to create political tensions and promoting disharmony among the public” and “insulting Telangana government and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy”.
The arrest on Monday comes seven months after the journalist posted a video on his X account where a farmer expressed his resentment towards the Telangana government, led by the Congress party. The arrest was based on four FIRs filed against Gowtham in September, three of which were solely based on this video. It’s unclear why the complaints were filed in September over a video that went viral in March.
Three FIRs had named Gowtham while the fourth named both him and his employer, Telugu Scribe. “Gowtham was picked up in Bengaluru by the police on Monday and was brought to Hyderabad on Tuesday. He should have been produced before the magistrate earlier but they didn’t bring him to the magistrate until 5.30 in the morning,” Gowtham’s mother told TNM. Gowtham is currently lodged in Chanchalguda jail.
In the video he posted on X on March 12, of a farmer residing in Nalgonda, Gowtham wrote: “During a leisure trip of mine, I faced a heartbreaking incident yesterday. A farmer named Mallayya from Mushampalli village in Nalgonda district asked me to personally record a video of him and send it to KCR garu.”
KCR — K Chandrashekhar Rao — is the former chief minister of Telangana and the chief of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) party.
In the video, the farmer, Mallaya, spoke highly of KCR, and BRS policies like the Rythu Bandhu — a farmers investment support scheme introduced by BRS. He went on to say that he is debt-ridden under the current regime. Telangana elections were held in November last year and Congress’ Revanth Reddy took over as the new chief minister on December 7, 2023.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here.
