The victim, Shaik Abdul Rasheed, was hacked to death by three assailants in the middle of the road in full public glare with impunity.
Published Jul 18, 2024 | 1:30 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 18, 2024 | 3:26 PM
YSRCP worker hacked to death. (YSRCP/ X)
The Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh woke up to the news of a gruesome murder, living up to its reputation of being a theatre for unrestrained violence.
A youth, Shaik Abdul Rasheed, was hacked to death by three assailants in the middle of the road in full public glare with impunity.
The district which saw a wave of violence during the recent general elections, witnessed a gory murder in Vinukonda on the night of Wednesday, 17 July.
The blood-curdling incident happened a day ahead of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu releasing a white paper on law and order on Thursday, 18 July.
When Rasheed was being hacked to death on the road, a huge crowd collected but no one tried to stop the assailants from committing the crime. Some people in the crowd, however, shot videos of the crime that was taking place right in front of them.
The victim, Shaik Abdul Rashed is said to have belonged to the YSRCP while the assailant owed allegiance to the ruling TDP but the yellow party has refuted the claim, saying both the victim and assailants belong to the YSRCP only.
According to the police, Rasheed was returning home at about 8.30 p.m. from a liquor shop where he was working as a supervisor when one, Jilani, and two others waylaid him. As he reached the Mundamuru Bus Station, Jilani attacked him with a knife— the type which is used for cutting coconuts.
The victim’s hand was severed and was flung to a distance when the assailants began hacking him. Later, they attacked him discriminately even as he was crying in pain. When he fell on the road in a pool of blood, the assailant repeatedly hacked him, killing him on the spot. He then left the place cooly without anyone daring to stop. It is learnt that the police have detained Jilani and interrogation is in progress.
District Superintendent, Kanchi Srinivasa Rao who took over only recently, said that section 144 was in force. He said personal rivalry was the reason for the attack and that there was no political angle to it.
He warned of stern action in accordance with the law against the perpetrator of the crime. “We will deal with such elements sternly,” he said. He, however, did not say what was the actual reason that had prompted Jilani to attack him.
Meanwhile, the YSRCP leaders condemned the murder. They said it reflected the deteriorating law and order in the state. They said 31 murders took place after the TDP came to power about a month ago.
Learning about the incident, YSRCP chief and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is away in Bengaluru, is rushing to his Tadepalli residence to take stock of the situation.
Taking to X, YS Jagan criticised the TDP government for the lack of law and order. ” People’s lives are at risk and these atrocities are being committed to suppress the YSRCP. Within a month and a half of the new government taking office, Andhra Pradesh has become synonymous with murder, rape, political vendetta, and destruction,” he wrote.
Expressing his condolences to the family of the victim, Jagan demanded a probe by the central agencies.
Andhra Pradesh is under demonic rule. Law and order is nowhere to be seen. People’s lives are at risk and these atrocities are being committed with the intention of suppressing the YSRCP. Within a month and a half of the new government taking office, Andhra Pradesh has become…
— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) July 18, 2024
Only a few days ago, the state government transferred Palnadu district superintendent of police Mallikarjun Garg and posted Kachi Srinivasa Rao in his place.
For the incumbent SP, the murder appears to have given a foretaste of what to expect in the highly sensitive district where death is sudden and very violent.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)
