Reinstated, why two Andhra IPS officers were suspended by Naidu govt in 2024
Over two years after their suspension in connection with a case regarding Mumbai model-actress Kadambari Jethwani, senior IPS officers in Andhra Pradesh, Kanthi Rana Tata and Vishal Gunni, stand reinstated and given new postings.
The officers’ suspensions were revoked earlier this month following orders by chief secretary Sai Prasad, which stated the reinstatement as “without prejudice to the ongoing disciplinary and criminal proceedings in their cases”.
On September 15, 2024, the Chandrababu Naidu government had suspended three IPS officers at one go. P. Sitharama Anjaneyulu, IPS (1992), former director general of police (DGP), intelligence; Kanthi Rana Tata, IPS (2004), former commissioner of police, Vijayawada; and Vishal Gunni, IPS (2010), former deputy commissioner of police, Vijayawada, were suspended under Rule 3(1) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 for alleged “misconduct” and “dereliction of duty” in the Jethwani case.
The officers had been accused by the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of operating as per diktats of top leaders of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) during the latter’s tenure in government, and in contravention of due procedures.
Anjaneyulu, who was inspector general in the Border Security Force (BSF) earlier and Andhra’s intelligence chief in the crucial last two years of the YSRCP government, retired from service on August 31 this year while under suspension. Anjaneyulu was even arrested by the state police in April 2025 in connection with the actress case, and later released on bail.
Before their suspensions in September 2024, the three officers were among over 20 IPS officers awaiting postings since the Naidu government came to power in June that year. Most of these officers were accused of maintaining close connections with YSRCP leaders or working to favour them on various occasions.
Anjaneyulu and Tata had been relieved from their posts in April 2024 during the general elections on the orders of the Election Commission following an incident of stone-pelting in Vijayawada, which injured then chief minister and YSRCP boss Jagan Mohan Reddy, and the TDP’s subsequent complaints against them.
Serving as DIG, Visakhapatnam when the TDP-led coalition stormed to power, Gunni was relieved of the post from July 12.
Jethwani was purportedly harassed with an allegedly false land deal (near Vijayawada) case lodged against her. She was arrested in February 2024 along with her elderly parents and held in jail for over 40 days.
The actress, who is a former Miss Gujarat, was allegedly pressured to withdraw or compromise on her rape case in Mumbai against a prominent industrialist whose firm is executing a major project in Andhra Pradesh. Anjaneyulu, Tata and Gunni were allegedly acting on the directions of top YSRCP leaders to clear the name of the industrialist.
In August 2024, after the YSRCP’s defeat in assembly polls, Jethwani approached the Andhra Pradesh police in Vijayawada, accusing top police officials and others of conspiring with local businessman and YSRCP leader Kukkala Vidyasagar to falsely accuse her of forgery in the land deal case and extortion. She told the media there was a “higher level of political influence, money and power involved” in her case.
The officer’s subsequent suspension orders said that on January 31, 2024, Anjaneyulu (then DGP, intelligence) called Tata (then commissioner of police, Vijayawada Police Commissionerate) and Gunni (then deputy commissioner of police, Vijayawada Police Commissionerate) to the chief minister’s office and instructed them to arrest Jethwani, “although no crime has been registered in this regard as on that date”.
Records show that the FIR against Jethwani was registered on the morning of February 2, 2024. While Tata, according to the suspension orders, “enabled and indulged in the illegal arrest of Kumari Jethwani”, Gunni, upon Anjaneyulu’s oral instructions, “hastily proceeded to Mumbai on February 2 to effect arrests and arrested Kumari Jethwani”.
Tata and Gunni’s suspension, like that of Anjaneyulu, was extended from time to time, the latest till September 4 this year. The revocation orders were issued on September 3.
In the transfers orders issued on September 20, Tata has been appointed inspector general of police, Directorate of Traffic Management and Road Safety, while Gunni has been posted as deputy inspector general of police, Training, besides additional charge as director, AP Police Academy.
