Students lay siege to police stations

WARANGAL: Kakatiya University students held protests across the district on Thursday against the arrest of 17 students for attacking the house of information technology minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah at Hanamkonda on Wednesday.The police registered cases against 19 students in connection with the attack on the minister’s house.Of them, 17 were produced in the court and remanded in judicial custody for 15 days.Later, the magistarte granted bail on a petition filed by bar association members.Five more students are still in police custody.On Thursday six Kakatiya University students were arrested along with TRSV secretary-general K Vasudeva Reddy, Damodar , Virender and others who were also detained in the Subedari police station.Alleging torture of the arrested students, agitating students tried to lay siege to some police stations and government offices.With students refusing to withdraw, police resorted to mild lathi-charge.By closing the university’s gates the police foiled students’ plan to gherao the district superintendent of police.Policemen were deployed in large numbers near the office.Yet, as many as 20 students managed to jump over the gate in a bid to dash to the SP’s office but were promptly rounded up.Students of Lal Bahadur College staged rasta roko on the Mulug road bringing traffic to a halt for an hour.