Police in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh have launched an investigation after a YSRCP supporter was allegedly run over by the vehicle of party president and former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday.
Cheeli Singaiah, 55, died after being run over purportedly when he slipped and fell in front of the vehicle while trying to shower flowers on Jagan. According to officials, the vehicle’s front right wheel ran over the man’s neck.
Police and YSRCP supporters rushed him to a nearby hospital and later to Guntur Government Hospital, but he died on the way, said Guntur Superintendent of Police S Satish Kumar.
Initially, it was thought that Singaiah was injured after climbing on a vehicle in Jagan’s convoy and falling down, but videos of him being crushed under the vehicle in which Jagan was travelling have gone viral on social media.
Singaiah was a resident of Vengalayapalem village and had gone to greet Jagan with flowers. The incident occurred when Jagan was returning after visiting Rentapalla village in Palnadu district, where he had gone to console the family of a former sarpanch who had died by suicide, allegedly due to police harassment.
Singaiah “unfortunately fell down in front of the convoy and was run over”, SP Kumar said.
On the same day, another YSRCP supporter, 30-year-old P Jayvardhan Reddy, collapsed and died in a melee of Jagan supporters near Sattenapalli clock tower. He was declared brought dead at the Guntur Government Hospital.
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Jagan’s visit to Palnadu had already become controversial due to a placard held up by a YSRCP supporter, which led to a police case and a political blame game.
The placard, held up by YSRCP worker T Raviteja on Wednesday, said: “When YSRCP comes to power in 2029”, and below that, “rapa rapa narukuta”. The Telugu words were part of a line delivered by Allu Arjun in Pushpa 2. It translates to “cut them down, one by one”.
Police in Palnadu said they registered a case against Raviteja.
Andhra Pradesh Home Minister V Anitha accused Jagan of encouraging such “violent” statements.
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Jagan defended the placard, saying it was not meant to be violent and asked, “So, now you can’t even quote a line from a movie?”
