Shinde, Chidambaram charged with 'cheating' over Telangana

The Andhra Pradesh police have registered cases against union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and union finance minister P Chidambaram for allegedly "cheating people of Telangana" by going back on their word over formation of a separate state.

The police registered cases under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (cheating)  against the two central ministers on the direction of a district court, a police officer said.

The police at LB Nagar police station on the outskirts of Hyderabad took action after a court in Ranga Reddy district pulled up the station house officer (SHO) of the police station for not following the court orders passed on 28 January this year.

The SHO last week appeared before the second metropolitan magistrate's court, which took cognizance against him under section 166 (a) of the IPC (public servant disobeying the law) on a complaint filed by Naresh Kuma, a member of Telangana Junior Advocates' Association, which owes allegiance to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The court had on 28 January directed the police to file first information report (FIR) in the case and also file a status report before it by 14 February.

According to the petitioner, both Shinde and Chidambaram made misleading statement on the Telangana issue, thereby cheating the people of the region. He sought the court's directions to refer the matter to the police for investigation and registration of a case.

The two union cabinet ministers made the statements during an all-party meeting convened by the home ministry on Telangana in New Delhi on 28 December last year, Naresh Kumar said in his petition, adding that Shinde had assured that the Telangana issue would be resolved within a month.

Chidambaram, who was then the home minister, had, on 9 December 2012, announced that the process for formation of separate Telangana state would be initiated.

However, following protests in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, Chidambaram on 23 December 2012 modified the statement, saying there is need for more consultations over the issue.

Neither he two ministers nor the union government have reacted to the police complaint.