Vijayawada Gang War: Deceased Sandeep Was A TDP Activist

 - Sakshi Post

VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada, which had a history of faction feuds and day-light murders, has been very peaceful for a quite some time with the buzzing commercial capital thriving progressively in business. But the ghosts of the past appeared to have returned on Sunday when an ugly gang war involving two rival student groups disturbed the tranquil calm in the city.

A horrific video of the pitched battle between the two groups where they attacked each other with stones and knives went viral sending shock waves and triggering panic among the residents. Almost as if pulling off a scene from a Tollywood film, the two groups clashed violently, leaving one person dead and many others injured in the incident.

Even as it was initially presumed to be a local student skirmish going out of hands, startling revelations surfaced later on the motive of the audacious day-light fight. The fight is now being seen as a flashpoint to a simmering property dispute centering around a land under development for a real estate venture.

Also, Thota Sandeep, who succumbed to injuries suffered in the gang war, turned out to be a former rowdysheeter and a staunch activist of the Telugu Desam Party. His association with the opposition party in Andhra Pradesh was more than a decade old and he was known for his active participation in several party activities including organizing massive bike rallies at the time of party’s ‘Mahanadu’ events.

Sandeep was also known for his role in conducting private settlement of disputes for monetary gains in the Assembly constituencies of Vijayawada East, Central and Penamaluru between 2014-19 when the TDP was in power in the state. In all these activities, Sandeep was rumoured to have received the full backing of former legislator from Vijayawada East Gadde Rammohan Rao.

Since the time he became good friends with Telugu Yuvata district chief Devineni Chandu, who is the son of Vijayawda second division corporator Devineni Aparna, his atrocities have only shot up.

Even as a post-mortem examination was due on Sandeep’s body, here is a look at the backgrounder to the gang war that shook Vijayawada out of its peaceful slumber:

  • It is reported that two Vijayawada realtors, Dhanekula Sridhar and Pradeep Reddy had embarked on a residential apartment complex venture in Yanamalakuduru after entering into a development agreement with the land owner.
  • Pradeep Reddy, who invested Rs 40 lakh as his share, later backed out of the project. Despite this, Dhanekula Sridhar went ahead and completed the project.
  • Recently, Pradeep Reddy was said to have demanded Rs 50 lakh towards his share of investment and interest on it. However, Sridhar expressed his inability to pay as much as Pradeep demanded.
  • In reaction, Pradeep complained against Sridhar at a recent Spandana initiative where the police advised him to approach the court instead for settling the matter.
  • Desperate to somehow extract his money back, Pradeep sought the help of the son of a former corporator of the TDP. Subsequently, the former corporator’s son entrusted the matter to one of his followers.
  • He advised Pradeep to meet Sandeep and Pandu alias Manikanta, who has a criminal history, on Friday and asked him to settle the matter with Sridhar in their presence.
  • This is where Sandeep, against whom there was a rowdysheet opened in the past, entered the scene.
  • However, a dispute ensued between Sandeep and Pandu on the percentage of the settlement amount. It is learnt that Pandu stormed the house of Sandeep on the same night and had an altercation with Sandeep’s mother on the issue.
  • But the dispute took a turn for the worse after Pandu went to Sandeep’s iron and hardware shop the next morning and assaulted one of his workers there.
  • With tempers really running high, the gangs of Sandeep and Pandu attacked each other with knives and sticks at a playground near the Pappulamill centre of Patamata locality on Saturday evening.
  • Both Sandeep and Pandu were grievously hurt in the incident. While Sandeep was admitted at a private hospital in Vijayawda, Pandu was shifted to the Guntur General Hospital.
  • Because of a deep slash inflicted on his neck, Sandeep died at the hospital while receiving treatment. Even Pandu’s health condition is also stated to be very critical.

With the latest gang war unleashing terror in the city, the Vijayawada police quickly swung into action and began cracking the whip against anti-social elements to restore peace. Reacting angrily to the incident, Andhra Pradesh Endowments Minister Vellampally Srinivas vowed to severely punish all those involved in the gang war.

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