The attempt by Sakshi Media House, affiliated with the YSR Congress Party, to give a political spin to the recent arrest of seven Indian nationals involved in a prostitution racket in Texas, US, appears to have backfired.
Seven Indian nationals, including five men of Telugu descent, were arrested in Texas by the Denton County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) as part of a crackdown on prostitution.
According to a statement from the DCSO, the operation was intended to suppress prostitution in Denton County by arresting individuals attempting to purchase sexual favors for money.
The Indians arrested were: Bandi Nikhil (evading arrest and detention), Galla Monish (solicitation of prostitution), Amit Kumar (solicitation of prostitution), Kummari Nikhil (evading arrest and detention), Mekala Jaikiran Reddy (solicitation of prostitution under 18, evading arrest and detention), Rayapati Karthik (solicitation of prostitution), and Nabin Shrestha (solicitation of prostitution).
Among them, Karthik, Monish, Nikhil Bandi, Nikhil Kummari, and Jaikiran Mekala are from Andhra Pradesh.
Though there was no mention of the caste of the five accused Telugu NRIs, Sakshi chose to highlight two of them—Karthik and Monish—and label them as Kammas based on their surnames.
It conveniently added the tag “Chowdary” to their names and portrayed them as members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) NRI wing. However, the Sakshi report included a disclaimer, stating that their association with the TDP was a rumor circulating on social media.
On Saturday, TDP’s NRI wing coordinator in the USA, Jayaram Komati, issued a statement categorically denying the Sakshi report.
“Recent Sakshi Media news article dated August 23, 2024, alleges that five Telugu individuals who were recently apprehended in a USA Police Sting Operation are NRI TDP Coordinators. We categorically deny these baseless accusations published by the Sakshi Media group,” Jayaram stated in the rejoinder.
According to local dailies, the operation was carried out on August 14 and 15.
