Comedian Chevella Ravi, popularly known as Bithiri Satti after the name of his character in the show Teenmaar News, was physically assaulted on Monday at his channel office, V6, in Banjara Hills.

The incident occurred at around 2pm, when Ravi had come to his office and was suddenly confronted by his attacker.

According to local reports, the attacker shouted “Jai Bharat” while slapping and jostling him.

The assailant was immediately caught by the office security staff and others near the spot and handed over to the Banjara Hills police.

Ravi suffered minor injuries in the assault.

The attacker has been identified as Manikanta, who is a resident of Secunderabad, informed Banjara Hills police.

Speaking to TNM, Banjara Hills, K Srinivas said, “We have received a complaint from the victim although we are yet to file an FIR.”

“The accused seems to be mentally unstable. We tried to find out the motive behind his attack, and he claims that he was hurt because Ravi (victim) made anti-India and anti-Telangana comments on the show (Teenmaar News),” Srinivas said.

Teenmaar News is the name of a popular satirical show on V6, a regional news channel.

In the show, Chevella plays an intellectually disabled person, who presents news in satirical form and speaks in Telangana dialect.

In a video, where he narrates the motive behind the attack, Manikanta remains defiant.

He says, “I want to become a writer cum director, but after seeing this issue, I thought of forsaking my dream and focussing on this issue which is pertinent. Today, I came to burn down the channel. I’m willing to go to jail for my people.”

Film critic Mahesh Kathi has condemned the attack on Facebook.