VIJAYAWADA: A local court in Dharmabad of Nanded district of Maharashtra on Friday directed Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and 12 other TDP leasders to personally appear before it on October 15 in connection with criminal cases registered against them following their protests over release of water from Babli Barrage in July 2010. Of the 16 leaders including TDP, three, who are now in the TRS, Gangula Kamalakar, K S Ratnam and Prakash Goud, were granted bail after they made a personal appearance before the court on Friday.Naidu had been directed to personally appear before the court on September 21 but instead, his lawyer G Subba Rao appeared before the Dharmabad court on Friday and obtained a copy of the warrant and wanted to know why it was issued against Naidu.“We did not file a recall petition of the NBW. All our lawyer wanted to know was why was the NBW issued,” Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, TDP legal cell president and Rajay Sabha MP, told TOI over phone from Hyderabad. Dharmabad first class judicial magistrate N R Ghajbiye then directed Naidu and 12 others appear before him on October 15.“No notice was issued against them all these years. In our preliminary examination, we found that the police had falsely presented the case before the court by declaring them as absconding. We will study the case and decide on the future course of action,” Ravindra Kumar said. Apart from Naidu, the other TDP leaders who have to appear before the Dharmabad court on October 15 include AP irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheshwar Rao.

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