Hyderabad: A city civil court on Wednesday directed the BRS and former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to remove social media posts alleging corruption against Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka.
The XI Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, granted an ad-interim mandatory injunction directing the respondents to delete posts published on April 10, 2026, on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
The court passed the order on a petition filed by Seethakka seeking removal of allegedly defamatory content related to smartphone procurement for Anganwadi workers under the Poshan Abhiyan scheme.
According to the petition, the Women Development and Child Welfare department floated a tender for procurement of 38,130 mobile phones.
The petitioner stated that officials awarded the contract to the lowest bidder after following due process.
Remove posts order follows corruption allegations
Seethakka alleged that the BRS and its president falsely claimed phones priced at Rs.8,499 were purchased for Rs.14,499 each.
According to the petition, the posts accused the government of causing an irregularity of Rs.30 crore in the procurement process.
The minister also informed the court that she issued a legal notice to the respondents on April 12, 2026, demanding deletion of the posts and an apology.
However, the respondents allegedly failed to take corrective action despite receiving the notice on April 15.
Remove posts direction issued after court review
After examining the records, the court noted that the procurement documents fixed the phone price at Rs.11,650 per unit.
The court observed that the social media posts appeared to rely on incorrect data and did not accurately reflect the procurement process.
Referring to a Delhi High Court judgment in Vinay Kumar Saxena versus Aam Aadmi Party, the court stated that interim injunctions could be granted in defamatory social media cases.
The court held that Seethakka established a prima facie case and that denial of relief could cause irreparable damage to her reputation.
Accordingly, the court directed the respondents to immediately remove posts from their social media accounts. The matter was posted for further hearing on June 6, 2026.
Reacting to the order, Seethakka described the ruling as a setback to what she called false propaganda by the BRS. She maintained that the government followed transparent procedures in the procurement process.