Horror at Tirumala: TTD staffer stabbed to death

TIRUPATI: The calm at Tirumala was broken on Saturday morning as shocked employees and security guards watched a 43-year-old TTD employee being chased and stabbed to death by the husband of a woman employee in the TTD administrative building. The victim, identified as Y Mallikarjuna Rao is working as a senior assistant in TTD. He was allegedly misbehaving with a junior assistant working under him for sometime. Her husband M Srinivas, who runs a computer training institute came to know of it and warned Rao previously. As Mallikarjuna did not heed his warning, Srinivas decided to take the extreme step on Saturday. According to eyewitnesses, Rao was on his way to office when Srinivas confronted him at the parking place near the TTD building. Expecting an altercation, he started running for safety but Srinivas chased him inside and stabbed him eight times with a knife. Rao collapsed on the spot and died after 11-12 minutes due to profuse bleeding.When satisfied that Rao was dead, Srinivas calmly stood aside and waited for police to arrive before surrendering. Tirupati Urban police who rushed to the spot took Srinivas into custody. A case has been registered. The murder took place in front of the Venkateswara idol at the reception counter. It is learnt that one of the security guards even ran from the spot in fear, after seeing the rage of the accused.The incident inside the highly secured area has led to many awkward questions for the TTD administration. The murder happened in the very presence of security guards but no one cared to call the medical staff or police. It was only after a senior official arrived and issued directions that the security staff called up police. The incident happened days after a TTD employee was caught red-handed stealing jewels from the treasury.