Rival TDP and YSRCP spar over young man’s murder in Andhra

Palnadu (Andhra Pradesh), Jul 18 (PTI) The ruling TDP and opposition YSRCP on Thursday accused each other over the party affiliation of the person who murdered a 25-year-old man in this district.

According to police, Sheik Jilani (25), hacked Sheik Rashid to death in the middle of a road at Mundlamuru bus station at Vinukonda in Palnadu district around 9 pm on Wednesday.

However, the local police noted that there ‘was nothing political’ in this incident but only personal enmity between the two.

“There was no political issue. There were only personal issues between the two persons (Rashid and Jilani). Rumours are being circulated and some people are projecting it as a political murder,” a police official told PTI on Thursday.

Palnadu superintendent of police K Srinivas Rao noted that the crime scene will be reconstructed today, followed by the arrest of Jilani under Section 103 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Reacting to the murder, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that a “demonic reign” is prevailing in the southern state, bereft of law and order.

“My deepest condolences to the family of Rashid, who was murdered by TDP cadres in Vinukonda,” said Reddy, adding that there is no safety to people’s lives under the TDP government.

According to the opposition leader, Andhra Pradesh has turned into a den for murders, rapes, political vendetta and attacks in just 45 days of the new government assuming power.

Terming the Vinukonda murder as a shame to the TDP-led government, Reddy alleged that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other persons are perpetrating these atrocities.

Rebutting Reddy, the TDP claimed that Jilani was a follower of the YSRCP chief and called on the former CM to ‘stop supporting’ the murderer.

It asserted that Palnadu’s superintendent of police had ‘denied any political connection to the cold blooded murder’ that took place in Vinukonda.

“The killing is purely on personal issues and no political party is involved in the murder,” said the TDP in a release, quoting Srinivasa Rao.

According to the ruling party, prohibitory orders were clamped down in Vinukonda, while the SP warned of serious action on anyone resorting to law and order violations in the town.