Out on morning walk, Andhra Pradesh journalist chased, stabbed to death by assailants

TIRUPATI: A journalist who was out on his morning walk was stabbed to death by a group of assailants at V Kota in Chittoor district, which is also chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's home district, on Tuesday. The deceased, Jaganmohan Reddy, worked with a prominent Telugu vernacular daily.As per the preliminary investigation carried out by the police, a group of assailants came on bikes and attacked him indiscriminately at around 6 am while he was out on his daily morning walk. As he ran for safety, they chased him and stabbed him to death before escaping from the spot. Tension gripped V Kota, a sleepy town on the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border following the murder. Local police led by Palamaner DSP Degala Prabhakar rushed to the crime scene along with forensic and clues teams.As the news of the brutal murder spread, representatives of journalists unions and local civil society members staged protests and demanded the immediate arrest of those behind the murder. Chittoor MP Daggumalla Prasad Rao and Palamaner legislator N Amarnadh Reddy condemned the murder and appealed to the police for swift investigation and arrest of the accused in the case.Chittoor SP Tushar Dudi also reached V Kota and inspected the crime scene. Following his directions, six police teams were formed to investigate the murder and trace the accused, who are believed to be around 10 in number. The SP assured swift action and asserted that all possible motives, including personal enmity, will be investigated thoroughly. V Kota police have registered a case and shifted the body to the govt hospital at Palamaner for postmortem.Local journalists said a rowdy sheeter, identified as Thameem, could be involved in the murder and appealed to the police to probe his possible involvement. Sources said Jaganmohan was actively filing news reports on various smuggling activities, including sandalwood smuggling in which Thameem is known to be involved, which could have been a reason behind his murder.