Telugu Desam Party leader and former MLA from Denduluru in West Godavari district Chintamaneni Prabhakar has finally admitted that he had indeed taken part in cockfights held at Bidar in Karnataka and at Patancheru on the outskirts of Hyderabad a few days ago.
Chintamaneni told reporters that participating in cockfights was his habit since his childhood and it was his weakness.
Everybody in the district knew that he was an active participant in the cockfights, like many others in the Godavari districts.
“I don’t take part in the game not to make money for feeding my family or do business. I play it for fun, like all others do. I don’t think I had gone any major crime or a violent activity,” he said.
The TDP leader said he had gone to Bidar and Patancheru to take part in cockfights.
“There were no police raids in Bidar. While returning from Karnataka, there was a conspiracy to fix me in a case. They called me for lunch, so that when I go there, I could be arrested. But I did not fell into their trap,” he said.
At Patancheru, when he was taking part in the cockfights, he had received the information that the police were planning a raid at the guest house.
“Since I have to respect the law, I withdrew from the game and left the place along with my roosters and car even before the police came there,” he said.
Chintamaneni said the pictures and the video released to the media by the police were taken before he had left the place.
“So, as a precautionary measure, I stopped participating in the cockfights duly respecting the law,” he said.
He claimed that he had left the place, but the police were trying to project as if he had run away from the place on seeing them.
“I have the responsibility to respect the law and the police; but I have a weakness towards the game,” he said.
The TDP leader said if the police had to take any action against him based on the video and pictures, they should first give him notice under Section 41-A of the Cr PC, instead of digging a mountain to catch a mouse.
