Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son Bandi Sai Bageerath knocked the doors of the Telangana High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a criminal case registered against him under different Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The Petbasheerabad police of Cyberabad Commissionerate issued an FIR (684/2026) against Bageerath on the charge of making sexual advances in an intoxicated condition towards a 17-year-old girl at a farmhouse on the intervening night of December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026. The complaint was lodged by the girl’s mother. Since the HC is on summer vacation, the criminal petition filed by him is likely to be heard by the Vacation Bench on Thursday.

Police invoked Sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force on woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) and 75 (sexual harassment) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The investigators also invoked Sections 11 (sexual harassment) read with 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act 2012 against the 23-year-old accused Bageerath.

Mr. Bageerath contended that a charge-sheet filed against the alleged victim for ‘under-aged driving’ (without driving licence) in 2021 recorded her age as 15 years and described her as a ninth standard student then. This suggested that she was above 18 years of age presently, the petitioner said. His counsel sent a representation to the investigators on Monday to verify and ascertain the age of the ‘victim’ based on the charge-sheet 304/2021 (relating to her underage driving case).

Stating that his father’s political opponents and “various powerful and influential persons” demanded his arrest, the petitioner apprehended imminent arrest. Contending that the Sections invoked against him were non-bailable, he requested the HC to grant him pre-arrest bail by invoking Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

Mr. Bageerath said that the allegations levelled against him by the victim’s mother were self-contradictory. While charging that her daughter was molested and the accused made sexual advances, the victim’s mother claimed in the complaint that he and her daughter were in a relationship till January 7, 2026, even after the alleged offence was committed, he stated.

‘Sections altered’

He stated in the petition that he had reliably learnt that at the behest of the victim’s mother the investigators were altering Sections of the law to be more serious in nature to ensure he was denied bail. He claimed that he had no criminal antecedents and no criminal cases were pending against him.