The sudden demise Nalanda Kishore, a TDP sympathiser in Visakhapatnam and a close follower of former minister and TDP MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao, on Saturday allegedly due to Covid-19, kicked up a political row.
Kishore was arrested last month by the Crime Investigation Department sleuths for alleged derogatory posting in the social media against YSR Congress party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy and tourism minister Avanti Srinivas.
He was later taken to Kurnool from Visakhapatnam by road where he was interrogated and later sent to judicial remand. However, he was released on bail later.
On the day of his arrest, Ganta issued a protest statement alleging that the police were harassing his follower for simply forwarding the posting which had already been in circulation.
Ganta then alleged that the police had not even bothered about Kishore’s ill-health.
But now, he has remained silent strangely over the death of Nalanda Kishore. Apparently, he thought any statement against the YSRC government at this stage might hamper the prospects of his entry into the party.
TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed condolences over the death of Nalanda Kishore.
He said the government should be held responsible for the death of Kishore, who was allegedly subject to mental torture by the police and the government.
However, rebel YSR Congress MP from Narasapuram parliamentary constituency in West Godavari district Kanumuru Raghurama Krishnam Raju alleged that Nalanda Kishore had died of Coronavirus disease only due to alleged negligence of the police.
"I was deeply moved by the death of TDP sympathiser Nalanda Kishore. Though his health was not well, the CID police forcibly took him to Kurnool which had been reeling under severe Covid-19 pandemic with highest number of cases," Raju said.
The MP described Kishore’s death as a police murder.
“Though the post forwarded by him in the social media had not mentioned any name, the police arrested him and harassed him,” he alleged.
