Amaravati, August 6, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A court in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district on Thursday sent YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former Guntur East MLA Shaik Mohammed Mustafa to 14 days of judicial custody in an alleged kidnapping case.
Mustafa was arrested in Gujarat two days ago by a police team from Nuzvid. After being produced before a court in Vadodara, police obtained a transit warrant and brought him back to Andhra Pradesh.
The former MLA was produced before a magistrate in Nuzvid early Thursday, following which the court remanded him to judicial custody. He was subsequently shifted to Nellore Sub-Jail.
Mustafa’s son Mubashir alias Basheer, who was arrested at Hyderabad airport on Tuesday, was also sent to judicial custody on Wednesday.
The two have been booked in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a tobacco trader’s son and two others following a dispute related to a tobacco procurement transaction. Police have invoked charges including kidnapping for ransom, criminal intimidation and assault. Provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also added as the complainant belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.
According to police, Mustafa, who operates a tobacco godown in Guntur, procures tobacco from traders. Eluru-based tobacco trader K. Suryachandram had been supplying tobacco to Mustafa but stopped doing business with him following a decline in prices.
Police said that on July 27, Suryachandram’s son Abhi, driver Balaraju and G. Durga Rao were travelling to Guntur with a tobacco-loaded vehicle to sell the produce to another company when they were allegedly intercepted in Nuzvid by Basheer and his associates.
The accused allegedly demanded payment of pending dues, kidnapped the three men and took control of the vehicle carrying tobacco.
Suryachandram told police that after receiving information from his son, he contacted Mustafa over the phone. He alleged that the former MLA threatened him, saying that his son would not be released unless he came to the godown in Guntur with the money.
Following the complaint, police registered a case. The three alleged victims were later released, while Mustafa, his son and some others had remained absconding. Police said some of the accused aides later surrendered.
The YSRCP has criticised the police action against Mustafa and his son, alleging political vendetta by the ruling TDP-led coalition government.
YSRCP president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed that Mustafa and his son were falsely implicated despite having handed over the concerned person to the police.
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