The murder of a young man, who is a close relative of a local Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader ahead of the Tirupati Lok Sabha bye-election, has triggered a row. According to media reports, the victim is a part of the TDP and the accused is from YSRCP. Bharat Yadav, a 19-year-old student who recently completed his intermediate education (Class 12) was stabbed to death allegedly by his friend Shanker (22), who works at a car service centre in Tirupati.
Bharat Yadav is a distant nephew of TDP leader and former Chairman of Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) G Narsimha Yadav.
According to a report in Sakshi, Lakshmipuram Inspector Siva Prasad Reddy said that Bharat and his friend had an argument over a phone number of another person on Sunday night. The Inspector informed that the accused Shanker attacked Bharat with a knife after he refused to give the phone number of his friend.
Bharat was later shifted to the hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment. The body has been shifted to SV Medical College for post mortem.
A Times of India report said that the murder was allegedly done by a group of men belonging to the YSRCP. On the other hand, The Hindu said that the murder could have been a result of one-to-one rivalry. The prime accused is also reported to have been involved in another recent attack case.
Meanwhile, the TDP called the incident a political murder. TDP chief and Opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu said that the YSRCP is turning spiritual centre Tirupati into a field of faction and vendetta politics. Naidu claimed that five such murders have taken place in Tirupati after YSRCP came into power.
Naidu said, “The peace and tranquillity of the temple city of Tirupati has been adversely affected which is evident from the fact that five murders took place in this holy city ever since the YSR Congress party came to power in the state."
He has also demanded the police to bring the culprits responsible and book them for murder.