A woman who had accused Jana Sena Party MLA Arava Sridhar of harassment and exploitation has now alleged that one of his associates physically assaulted her in public, while abusing her in the name of her caste.
Visuals of the incident from April 2, Thursday, showed one of the MLA’s associates, Nagendra Thathamsetty, allegedly hitting the woman and a man named Gopi who had accompanied her with a stick.
The woman, a government employee, had previously accused Kodur MLA Sridhar of exploiting and threatening her over nearly one-and-a-half years after she approached him seeking help for a job. She also alleged that he forced her to undergo an abortion.
On April 2, the woman said that she attended a praja darbar (‘public court’, a public grievance redressal system) and handed over a letter to Telugu Desam Party in-charge for Railway Kodur town, Rupananda Reddy, following up on her complaint against Arava Sridhar.
Later, she went out on her scooter along with her lawyer’s brother Gopi to buy groceries, she said. At the same time, Jana Sena Party had organised an event nearby to celebrate the Parliament according legal status to Amaravati as the state capital. The woman said she saw Sridhar, Nagendra and a few others arrive in their cars.
“They suddenly started attacking us. They chased and hit Gopi badly. When I asked them why they were assaulting him, they kept threatening him to leave. Gopi then left in an auto. When I continued to ask why they were attacking us, Nagendra abused me in the name of my caste and hit me while threatening to kill me. Another man present there also abused me in the name of my caste,” the woman told the media.
The woman and the MLA Sridhar both belong to the Mala (SC) community.
The woman said that Sridhar was present throughout the attack, alleging that it couldn’t have happened without his encouragement.
“We had both decided to resolve the issue out of the party, but he is sending party people to hit me. He may have felt insulted that I submitted a complaint to TDP leader Rupananda Reddy, but that was because I couldn’t get a hold of Sridhar in his office,” the woman said.
Railway Koduru police have booked Nagendra Thathamsetty for physical assault and caste-based abuse under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Tirupati Superintendent of Police L Subbarayudu said.
Jana Sena Party had earlier constituted a three-member internal committee to inquire into the woman’s allegations of harassment against its MLA Sridhar, based on orders from party president and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. “I am waiting for Pawan Kalyan’s response on this attack,” the woman said.