Visakhapatnam: The attack on four members of a family in Burma Colony here turned political when the victims met BJP leader and assembly candidate for Vizag-North, Vishnu Kumar Raju, to complain that they were attacked because they voted for the NDA.
As per the case, a gang led by local thug Lokesh attacked the family members with sticks and caused injuries to three persons on Wednesday night.
The victims, S. Nooka Ratnam alias Neerisha, her mother Dhana Lakshmi, her siblings Ramya and Manikanta claimed that they were attacked by Lokesh and his relatives Kanaka Ratnam and Aasha as “we voted for the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance.”
“The police downplayed the political angle by stating that old rivalry led to the attack,” they told the former MLA.
Expressing the view that the police supported the YSRC goons in Vizag, Vishnu Kumar Raju stressed that political rivalry led to the attack on Nooka Ratnam’s family. “The police utterly failed to control anti-social elements and protect the rowdy-sheeters.”
Vishnu Kumar Raju demanded that the police arrest rowdy sheeter Boggu Srinu and the other assailants. “We will approach city police commissioner Ravi Shankar to alter the case as an instance of political rivalry instead of old enmity, and demand the arrest of all the accused.”
He alleged Lokesh, Bhaskar, Sai and Bholoak have been working under a senior YSRC leader.
Minister Botsa Satyanarayana claimed there was no connection between the attack and politics. He asked the police not to spare anybody involved in the attack.
