Just a few hours after six-year-old Lakshita was attacked and killed by a wild animal in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala temple, Kovuru YSRCP MLA Nallapureddy Prasannakumar Reddy chose to blame the parents. Speaking to the media, the MLA said that he had some doubts regarding the death and asked police officials to ‘strictly interrogate the parents’.
Speaking to the media, Nallapureddy said, “It is extremely unfortunate that a young girl has died in an animal attack. I offer my condolences to the parents. They will be given compensation by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) as well. However, I have some suspicions regarding the case and would like even the parents to be interrogated.”
Lakshita’s mother Sasikala, a resident of Pothireddypalem village in Kovuru mandal of Nellore district, said, “There was no fence. If the animal hadn’t come, my daughter wouldn’t have died. There isn’t even a cautionary board in the area. What were the police, forest officials doing?”
This is a second attack on a child in the last three months. In June, a five-year-old child was critically injured after being attacked by a leopard on the walkway to the Tirumala temple. After the attack on five-year-old Kaushik, TTD had vowed to fence the area around Alipiri walkway but there has been no update on fencing since then.
It is unclear on what grounds the MLA has called for interrogation of the parents, especially considering this is the second animal attack against a child in the last three months.
Andhra Pradesh BJP spokesperson Bhanu Prakash Reddy said that he could witness animals as he walked past the Alipiri pathway and it was a surprise that even though he could spot animals like leopards, the authorities were unable to do so. “TTD and forest officials owe an explanation on why they failed to protect pilgrims,” he said.
Responding to the allegations, Tirupati Superintendent of Police Parameswara Reddy said that security measures including infrastructure changes will be implemented and at necessary intervals, checkposts will have guarded personnel.
TTD Executive Officer Dharma Reddy called the instance unfortunate and also spoke of measures like deploying security guards every 10 meters, setting up of cages, shutting off the path earlier in the day and monitoring animal movements via CCTV cameras will take place.