Bhimavaram: Fans of actor Pawan Kalyan went on a rampage in Bhimavaram town in West Godavari district alleging that Baahubali star Prabhas’ fans had taken down flexis and banners that had been put up to commemorate the former’s birthday on Wednesday.
Six police pickets were put in place in town and patrolling parties were deployed to bring the situation under control.
Sources said that Pawan Kalyan’s fans had celebrated his birthday on Wednesday in a grand manner, taking out a bike procession and erecting the star’s flex boards, cutouts and banners across town, especially from Juvvalapalem to SRK Engineering College.
However, on Wednesday night, they found out that some of the banners had been pulled down and suspected Prabhas’ fans to be the culprits.
Following this, they destroyed public property including hoardings, name plates of streets in the name of the caste group that Prabhas belongs to, broke glasses of ATMs and burnt Baahubali flex boards and cutouts.
They also took out a huge procession in town, demanding that the government take action against those responsible for destroyed the banners of their hero.
District leaders of the Pawan Kalyan Fans Association rushed to Bhimavaram and tried to pacify the fans, but in vain.
On Thursday, West Godavari district superintendent of police Bhaskar Bhushan told DC that the issue was minor and it had been solved.
Naraspuram DSP P. Soumyalatha said the situation was under control and round-the-clock police pickets and patrolling had ensured that there were no more flare ups.
Bhimavaram Police registered two cases against two groups based on the complaints of the leaders of the fan associations of the two heroes.
Pawan Kalyan Fans Association leader Minte Venkatesh Naidu lodged a complaint that their hero’s banners had been destroyed by unknown miscreants. Prabhas Fans Association leader Routhula Yesu also lodged a complaint that Prabhas’ flex boards and public property had been destroyed by Pawan fans. According to his complaint, the Bhimavaram police registered cases against S. Rajesh, V. Phanikumar, Adabala Ashok Kumar and others.
