Two videos of violent attacks went viral in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. Both the videos were from Nellore, and were shared with claims that the violence was related to cricket betting rackets in the region. Several news channels also reported that a man had been attacking the victims for failing to pay money in a bet related to IPL (Indian Premier League) 2020. However, Nellore Rural police have said that the videos are from two separate incidents which occurred several months ago.
In one video, a man is seen being repeatedly beaten with a stick. He is seen and heard crying and pleading with the other man to stop, as he is struck repeatedly. Though the incident occurred in April, a case was registered by the Nellore Rural police on Tuesday after the video went viral. The complainant, who is seen being beaten in the video, is 22-year-old Kaveripakam Yugandhar, a resident of Chandrababu Nagar in Nellore city.
Police said that Yugandhar had been working as a milk van driver near Dycus road centre on Podalakur road. In April, he rented an Innova car from a man named Srikanth, to drive his employer’s family to Ongole. As he was driving from Nellore to Ongole, the car met with an accident near the Nellore Iragalamma temple. With his car being damaged, Srikanth then asked Yugandhar to pay for the repairs. When he failed to do so, Srikanth’s friends, Rajasekhar and Kiran, took Yugandhar to a deserted location along a highway and beat him up badly with sticks, thereby injuring him, police have said. It is a video of this attack on Yugandhar that is now viral.
Watch the videos here:
Another video was also shared, where the faces of the persons involved are not clearly visible. While a few TV channels clubbed the two videos together to suggest that they were all part of the same betting racket involving Rajasekhar, calling him a dangerous, feared goon, police said that the second video is from an even older incident which happened in November 2019. A 20-year-old degree student named Revanth had borrowed Rs 2,000 from an acquaintance named Jagadeesh, and when he failed to pay him back, he was beaten up by Jagadeesh, Rajasekhar and another person named Ranjith. Police said that a complaint was filed by Revanth on Tuesday at Chinna Bazar police station, as he felt “ashamed” after the video went viral.
Police said that the incidents were not caused by cricket betting or any form of gambling, as it is being claimed on social media and electronic media. Police have arrested Rajasekhar over the two incidents.