Brothers hacked to death in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool

Police cited the initial probe and said the brothers were going to a crematorium to collect the ashes of their cousin, who died three days ago, when a group of five to six men waylaid them. The assailants first knocked the brothers down and then attacked them with sharp weapons including sickles

A 45-year-old former village head and his brother were hacked to death after a vehicle hit them in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district on Thursday, police said and blamed personal animosity for the murders. The two, Vaddu Nageshwar Reddy and Vaddu Pratap Reddy, 43, were associated with the opposition Telegu Desam Party (TDP). Sridhar, a local police officer who uses one name, said three of their relatives were also injured in the attack.

Representational Image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police cited the initial probe and said the brothers were going to a crematorium to collect the ashes of their cousin, who died three days ago, when a group of five to six men waylaid them. The assailants first knocked the brothers down and then attacked them with sharp weapons including sickles. “The brothers died on the spot, while the three relatives sustained injuries,” Sridhar said. He said murders were a fallout of a feud they were involved with a family in their village for decades. “There had been no major incidents of factional violence in the last 25 years in the village. We are probing the reasons for today’s killings,” Sridhar said.

Deputy police superintendent Chidananda Reddy rushed to the murder scene with an additional police force to ensure there were no retaliatory attacks.

Sridhar said they have registered a case of murder and attempt to murder even as the assailants were on the run. “We have launched a manhunt,” he said.

TDP leader and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the killings and said the law-and-order situation in the state has completely deteriorated. He added TDP leaders and activists were being killed in broad daylight. “So far, over 30 TDP leaders have been killed in the last two years. I wonder what the police are doing in the state,” he said.