TRS Leader Hacked to Death After Flag Hoisting on I-Day, Section 144 Imposed

A Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) leader Tammineni Krishnaiah was allegedly hacked to death at a village in Khammam district on Monday, 15 August, as he was returning home from the hoisting of the tricolour at an Independence Day function.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) leader Tammineni Krishnaiah was allegedly hacked to death in a village in Telangana's Khammam district on Monday, 15 August, as he was returning home from hoisting the tricolour at an Independence Day function.

Krishnaiah, an aide of former minister and TRS leader Thummala Nageswara Rao, was chased and stopped by four people in an auto, who stabbed him to death and fled the scene, as per the police.

The Telangana Police has constituted special teams to nab the culprits. Eight people have been booked in the case so far.

“At the entrance of the Teldarupally, an auto with four people came and killed him on the spot and fled the place. We have got info that four people have committed it and we have formed four teams to find their location. The body is shifted to the hospital for postmortem,” the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Khammam district was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Section 144 has been imposed in the area amid the tensions, thus banning unlawful assembly.

Krishnaiah's Supporters Attack CPI(M) Leader's House as Family Blames Him for Murder

Following Krishnaiah’s death, his supporters attacked CPI(M) leader Tammineni Koteswara Rao’s house, blaming him for the murder. They damaged vehicles and vandalised furniture and other items. Police personnel were deployed to bring them under control.

Krishnaiah’s family members have alleged that CPI(M) sympathisers from the village are behind the murder and stated that there was a political rivalry between TRS and CPI(M) leaders in the region.

“Krishnaiah’s family members say that there is a power tussle between TRS and CPI(M), and CPI(M) sympathisers from the village are behind the murder,” Khammam Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Subhash Chandra Bose was quoted as saying.

Krishnaiah’s daughter told TV9 that the family suspected CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram and his brother Tammineni Koteswara Rao’s to have played a role in the murder.

She alleged that the CPI(M) leaders resented her father as he was not subservient to them as they expected him to be.

“They would threaten people who would associate themselves with my father, they would encroach on people’s lands, do injustice to them. My father would help them out. Everyone warned him to be careful, that they would hurt him,” she alleged.

(With inputs from ANI and TV9.)