Eggs were hurled at Telugu film critic Kathi Mahesh on Thursday night, allegedly by fans of actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan.
Kathi has clashed with fans of Pawan in the past as well, especially after they unleashed an organised campaign to troll Kathi.
Kathi, who was travelling in a cab at the time of the incident, had eggs thrown at him near Hyderabad’s Cyber Towers in Madhapur, reported ABN Telugu.
Speaking to TV9, the cab driver said that he was ferrying Kathi from the TV9 office in Banjara Hills to the office of another channel in Kondapur and his window was rolled down. “One guy threw something from outside … I couldn’t see anyone (clearly). If I saw, I would have definitely stopped them. Nobody could understand who the assailant was,” he said.
Kathi suspects that the attack was carried out by followers of Pawan Kalyan, and has demanded a response from the actor-politician himself.
Kathi tweeted that he would be registering a police complaint on Friday.
“This is the first time that I’m filing a case. So far, for everything that has been happening in the public domain, I have wanted to sort it out in the public domain itself. Now, there is no option but to pursue it legally, because what occurred now is illegal,” he told TV9.
Referring to the Jana Sena, Kathi added that if these are the kind of people who come to power, the kind of attack that took place against a common man like him could happen to anyone.
The Osmania University Students’ Joint Action Committee has condemned the incident and will be burning effigies of Pawan Kalyan on Friday, according to the Hans India.
Kathi Mahesh has been vocal about his criticism against the Jana Sena party chief, and was trolled extensively after he called Jana Sena ‘authoritarian’. His phone number was also circulated in fan groups, and people were asked to troll and abuse him.