Govt machinery, police failure exposed in Dr Priyanka death case: YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati : Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s governance over the tragic death of a postgraduate medical student and alleged that the state police machinery showed severe negligence and political bias. In an X post, Reddy highlighted the case of Dr Priyanka’s death, a PG medical student in Rajamahendravaram.

“The death of medical postgraduate student Dr. Priyanka in Rajahmundry has deeply shaken me. Her parents made many sacrifices and went through immense hardship to educate Priyanka and make her a doctor. They were also supporting her MD studies. It is extremely painful that those parents have now been denied the happiness of seeing their daughter become successful and serve many people as a doctor. At this difficult time, I pray that God gives the family strength and courage, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to them,” he said.

He alleged that the state government and police are failing to act according to the law, adding that the government is violating constitutional principles as it misuses power against the Opposition that questions its failures.
“The way in which the government machinery and the police system failed in Dr. Priyanka’s case has once again been exposed. On one side, we are seeing the government misuse power against the Opposition, against those who question it and against those who point out its failures, using the Red Book Constitution, taking the law into its own hands, violating constitutional principles and misusing authority without restraint. On the other side, when cases involving ordinary citizens come before them, the government and the police are failing miserably to act according to law. This is deeply unfortunate,” he said.

Elaborating on Dr Priyanka’s case, he noted that the incident took place on August 3 outside a shopping mall. Instead of immediately filing a case based on the allegedly available CCTV footage and the fact that the accused had consumed alcohol, the police treated it as a mere accident case.

“The incident took place on the night of August 3, right outside the gate of a shopping mall. Even though it was known that those involved had consumed alcohol, the police, instead of immediately checking the CCTV footage and registering cases based on the seriousness of the incident, treated it as a simple accident case, let those responsible go and closed the matter. This is extremely disturbing,” he said.

“The CCTV footage clearly shows that they not only hit the scooter on which Dr. Priyanka was travelling with their car, but also behaved inhumanely afterwards and drove the car over her. When such visuals are clearly available, there must be a full investigation into why the police acted with such negligence. The government and the police must answer the anguish expressed by Dr. Priyanka’s father,” he demanded.

Jagan alleged that Naidu has turned the state into a hub for liquor and ganja, citing an uncontrolled proliferation of belt shops, bars, and alcohol outlets near schools, temples, and public places. “The root cause of all this is the manner in which Chandrababu garu is using the police machinery for political harassment and vendetta, showing what is not there as if it exists, suppressing what actually exists, filing false cases and targeting political opponents.

Another reason is the way Chandrababu has turned himself into a brand ambassador for liquor and ganja, with belt shops on every other street, liquor shops at every kilometre, and bars and restaurants everywhere, without sparing temples, schools or beaches,” he said.

He further added that CM Naidu should realise that by bringing political vendetta, bias and the question of “Which party do you belong to?” into institutions that are supposed to treat every citizen equally, the very foundations of those institutions get weakened and pushed towards collapse.