Andhra Pradesh CID books senior citizen for questioning govt over Vizag gas leak incident

The Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday filed a case on a senior citizen for posting a "critical comment against the government" on social media regarding the Vizag gas leak incident.

'What I want is that all victims should get justice'

According to ANI, P Ranganayaki (66), resident of Lakshmi Puram in Guntur said that she is astonished at getting CID notices on a Facebook post of hers on the Visakhapatnam gas leak incident. She said that she simply shared her opinion on Facebook, but did not intentionally criticise the government.

"What I ultimately want is justice for Visakhapatnam gas leak victims," she added. CID has served her a section 41A notice. Under that section, if the crime is proved, the accused will have to face a punishment of 3 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh cash.

Ranganayaki said, "One of my Facebook friend made a list of questions posed by national media, and posted it on Facebook. I thought it is worth sharing. I took his permission, copied it, and pasted on my wall. But I do not have any bad intention of maligning the government. I just thought that people will know what national media is projecting."

"I do not have much knowledge to analyse government action. What I want is that all victims should get justice. I believe it will happen. I do not know why CID filed a case against me. I am not aware that my post was so inflammatory. The TDP leaders extended moral support to me. They said they will extend legal support too," she added. TDP leaders lead by former minister A Rajendra Prasad, went to her house and assured full support to her.

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As many as 12 people were killed when Styrene vapours leaked from the LG Polymers plant on May 7, while several hundred fell ill after inhaling the poisonous chemical at RR Venkatapuram near Visakhapatnam. LG Polymers in a statement on Monday said it successfully completed the transportation of the Styrene Monomer (SM) inventory within the plant as well as in the styrene tanks that were at the port. There is now no Styrene monomer left at the LG Polymers plant in Vizag.

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(With ANI inputs)