Hyderabad: The family of Kotte Venkatesh Yadav (40), who died in the Mahabubnagar bus tragedy, may have to wait for another week before his body is handed over to them for cremation.
Yadav was the president of the Karnataka State Megastar Chiranjeevi Fans’ Association.
Yadav’s sister Archana said that they had identified his body, but that the police are insisting that relatives should give samples for DNA profiling. His charred remains are now lying at the Osmania Hospital mortuary. Venkatesh was coming here to invite the family of the megastar for his sister’s marriage.
Archana has been coordinating with officials so that her brother gets a decent cremation.
“We were asked to come to the Osmania Hospital mortuary. When we went there, they said that only bodies were kept in the cold storage and that relatives should go to Red Hills to give blood samples. My parents are still standing in queue there,” she said.
She wants to convince the police to release her brother’s body as they have already identified him. “The ambulance people outside Osmania Hospital are demanding Rs 20,000 to transport my brother’s dead body to Bangalore, as the body requires a freezer,” Archana said.
Yadav was instrumental in organising Chiranjeevi’s events in Karnataka, according to the actor’s aide.
Expressing shock over Venkatesh’s death, Chiranjeevi said, “I knew him well and he was very close to me. What happened to him should not have happened.
I’m shocked at losing a person like Venkatesh.” The actor’s fans have sought adequate compensation for Yadav’s family in Bangalore.
