HYDERABAD: L'affaire Ram Charan Teja street brawl has taken a new turn with the discovery that the men who beat up the two hapless techies were from the Intelligence Security Wing (ISW). These men had been detailed for security of megastar turned minister Chiranjeevi , top police sources told TOI. This has given rise to the suspicion that the Union minister was somewhere in the vicinity when the brawl took place.

Alternatively, the security men had been diverted – in contravention of all norms – to the duty of Teja, a film star. The incident had happened on Sunday afternoon on Road Number 1 of Banjara Hills when Teja and his wife were going to Taj Krishna for lunch.

What is interesting is that the Supreme Court had recently ordered that security men should be withdrawn for VIP duties unless the particular VIP has a security threat perception. Chiranjeevi is not known to have any security threat. The ISW operates under the state intelligence department whose main job is to keep the state safe from Maoists and collect information pertaining to left wing extremism. But they are frequently being misused for political purposes.

Even as the street brawl has brought forth strong public condemnation, Chiranjeevi has steadfastly kept quiet. But Teja has been shooting his mouth off, blaming the two techies and even making the ridiculous claim that their career would be spoilt if he filed a case with the police. Which is why he has not reported the matter to the police, he has said in an effort to appear magnanimous.

Analysts averred that the complaint by the techies had not been registered because it was cops against whom the complaint was to be registered. Instead, the badly beaten techies whose clothes were torn were 'advised' to not insist on filing a complaint. So overtaken and scared by the incidents are the two techies that they are themselves seeking to underplay the matter.

Sources also confided to TOI that Chiranjeevi has been seeking a 'say' in police appointments and had earlier suggested 'names' of officers whom he wanted appointed in certain posts including the commissioner of Hyderabad police. But chief minister Kiran Kumar has not obliged Chiranjeevi on a single request. It is learnt that the chief minister is upset at the public brawl. Kiran's family maintains an extremely low public profile and are never recognizable in public, much less be involved in a street fight.

It is also known that some dissident ministers are propagating the name of Chiranjeevi as the Congress chief ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections. "At such a time Chiranjeevi will be well advised to keep the public behavior of his near and dear ones under check," well-meaning analysts told TOI.