Andhra Pradesh HC asks police to protect electronic devices in actress case

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the police department to seize various electronic devices like mobile phones, iPads and laptops that were seized from Bollywood actress and model Kadambari Jethwani, along with the data attached to them in their original form. Hearing a petition filed by Kukkala Vidyasagar urging the court to seize the electronic devices seized from Jethwani, Justice BVLN Chakravarthi stressed on the need to preserve the data in the electronic devices in their original form. Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas submitted to the court that the government has no intention of returning the seized equipment.

He said the government would file a reply with full details within a week. The hearing was adjourned till October 1. The applicant’s legal counsel T Niranjan Reddy said Jethwani’s electronic equipment, which was with FSL, was supplied in a hurry without giving FSL time to analyse and prepare a report. If the police ask the mobile operators to replace the SIM card in the mobile phones belonging to Jethwani, all the data on the old SIM card will be lost.

He also added that though the case was substantive, Jethwani had presented different versions of events to the media.

The AG said they were not going to return the equipment to Jethwani as claimed by the petitioner’s counsel. Interrupting him, the judge said that even if the government wanted to return the equipment, it could not as the rules did not allow it. Material items related to the case cannot be returned whenever one wants, he noted.