Hyderabad: Union minister of state (home) Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son, Bandi Sai Bageerath, on Tuesday moved the Telangana high court seeking anticipatory bail in connection with a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case registered against him for allegedly sexually harassing a 17-year-old girl. The case is expected to come up before the vacation bench soon.In his petition, Bageerath contended that the girl was 18 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, and that the allegations levelled against him were false and motivated by disputes between him and the survivor’s family.Bageerath, referring to a previous charge sheet filed in 2021 in an underage driving case, claimed that the girl’s age had then been recorded as 15 years and that she would now be 19 or 20 years old. He alleged that her age had been wrongly shown as 17 in the present complaint to invoke provisions of the POCSO Act.Bageerath further alleged that the girl’s parents, noticing the closeness between him and the girl and knowing that he belonged to a political family, started exploiting him and attempted to extort Rs 5 crore from him and even threatened that the girl would commit suicide if he did not pay them.He claimed that he had earlier lodged complaints against the girl’s family over alleged extortion demands and threats of implication.He argued that the relationship between him and the girl was consensual and continued for a considerable period without any complaint being raised. He alleged that even after the girl’s family became aware of the relationship in Jan 2026, no police complaint was lodged immediately, and the case was filed only in May after disputes arose between the two.He claimed that the present FIR was filed as a retaliatory measure and sought protection from arrest.
