The daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Beeda Masthan Rao who belongs to Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP, has allegedly fatally rammed a man lying on a footpath with her BMW in Chennai's Besant Nagar.
The driver, Madhuri, was arrested and released on bail by Chennai police on Tuesday. The victim, who was identified as Surya, was allegedly drunk and was lying on the pavement when Madhuri ran over him. The 24-year-old man, who was a painter, died of his injuries.
The woman claimed that she failed to notice the man. She was tracked down using the phone number she used to call the ambulance.
Madhuri and her friend reportedly fled the spot after the crowd got agitated. Onlookers rushed Surya to a hospital after the ambulance arrived but he succumbed to his injuries.
A case was filed under IPC section 304 (a) for causing death by negligence after the victim's wife lodged a complaint. When police checked the car registration using CCTV footage, they found that the Puducherry-registered vehicle belonged to Beeda Masthan Rao's BMR Group.
Who is Beeda Masthan Rao?
Beeda Masthan Rao aka B.M. Rao, who is the chairman of BMR Group, a shrimp farming and exports firm with plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The conglomerate has a 50,000 square feet factory in Dhamavaram as well as other facilities in Chennai, Nellore, Kavali and Ramatheertham.
A backward class leader belonging to the Yadava community, his political journey began with TDP in 1983 and was elected as MLA from Kavali Assembly seat in 2004 and 2009. He lost to YSRCP candidate from Kavali in 2014. In 2019, he contested from Nellore Lok Sabha seat but lost to YSRCP candidate.
He was also a member of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority.
In December 2019, Rao joined the YSRCP after quitting TDP over "personal reasons." He became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2022.