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Poornima Devi admits she lied, apologises

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

A grandson of Pingali Venkaiah, the man who designed the Tricolour, has lodged a criminal complaint with the Hyderabad police against A Poornima Devi for falsely claiming to be a daughter of the late freedom fighter.

Ghantasala Gopikrishna, son of Venkaiah's daughter, also urged Telugu Desam Party MP Kambampati Ramamohana Rao to withdraw his references to Poornima Devi in his special mention in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Brushing aside the apology tendered by Poornima Devi for making a false claim, an enraged Gopikrishna told rediff.com, "I will not let her go scot-free with an apology. The damage is already done and the apology does not serve any purpose. I am not going to compromise. It is not a joke to have her claim in the records of the Rajya Sabha.

"The TDP MP stated in the Rajya Sabha that 'Pingali Venkaiah's daughter is selling papads and pickles for her livelihood'. The other references to the alleged penury of my grandfather also bring down the image of the great man. Hence, I want the TDP MP to withdraw his remarks. I would request the Rajya Sabha chairman to delete the unfortunate references."

Gopikrishna said he has given representations to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Home Minister T Devender Goud, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Pervaram Ramulu and Hyderabad District Collector Rajeshwar Tiwari to take appropriate action against Poornima Devi.

"Poornima Devi resorted to fraud and impersonation and cheated the media, the government and bank officials by falsely claiming that she is the daughter of Pingali Venkaiah. Please understand the plight of my mother [Ghantasala Seethamahalakshmi, only daughter of Pingali Venkaiah] who is 79 years old. She is in mental turmoil because the image of the great son of Andhra Pradesh has been tainted by an impostor," Gopikrishna said in his representation.

He urged the government and police to take criminal action against Poornima Devi so that nobody dares to misuse the names of celebrities in future.

He said Poornima Devi visited their house on Friday, but neither he nor his mother was available at that moment. She handed over a photocopy of an apology letter to his wife and sister.

'I misled the media and everybody, including the Honourable Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, by making claims of being Pingali Venkaiah's daughter. I have no intention to defame the great leader. I request you, with a big heart, to forgive me,' she wrote in Telugu.

But Gopikrishna and his mother are in no mood to forgive her. "The controversy got international coverage," he pointed out. "The culprit should be booked for cheating, impersonation, fraudulent representation and for defaming a great leader and causing mental trauma to his family members."

Gopikrishna asserted, "We have to defend ourselves and future generations from such impostors. The state government may try to absolve her, but I am not satisfied with a simple apology. I will proceed against her legally to vindicate our reputation."

He also came down heavily on the media for projecting Poornima Devi. "The electronic media and newspapers gave her a lot of publicity," he complained. "One TV news channel repeated the story 20 times or more in a day. Another newspaper falsely claimed that my mother had offered to undergo a DNA test along with Poornima Devi to establish who is Pingali Venkaiah's daughter. When I was asked this question by the correspondent of a national daily, I told him, 'Do you know the meaning of DNA test? Where is the question? Pingali Venkaiah is dead. Both his sons are dead. He does not have paternal grandsons. How can you have a DNA test to establish the paternity of Poornima Devi? It is ridiculous'."

He is particularly sore with a Telugu daily and a national English daily and two leading television news channels for giving Poornima Devi prominence. "They should give equal prominence to us and carry our version, or else I and my mother will file defamation cases against these TV channels and newspapers," he warned.

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