By IANS
Hyderabad : One person was killed and four people, including former Congress legislator C.K. Jayachandra Reddy alias C.K. Babu, were injured Monday when a bomb exploded in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district.
The person killed at Chittoor’s Kattamanchi area, about 600 km south of here, was Babu’s guard. Babu was injured along with his associate, district youth Congress chief Siva Reddy, his driver and another guard.
Police said the bomb, planted near a drainage canal, exploded when Babu was on his way to a temple in his vehicle, which was damaged in the blast.
The injured were rushed to the Government Hospital here, where one of the guards succumbed to injuries.
While Babu and Siva Reddy are out of danger, the condition of his guard and driver is stated to be serious.
The injured were later shifted to the Christian Medical College at Vellore town in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
An unexploded bomb was recovered from the scene.
Following the bomb attack, police imposed orders prohibiting the gathering of four or more people and intensified patrolling to prevent any untoward incident.
The controversial legislator had earlier escaped a bid on his life Feb 9, 2007 when eight unidentified people tried to storm his office and gun him down.
Although he escaped when his followers overpowered an assailant who aimed a revolver at him, one of his guards and a government employee seated with him were killed. One of the attackers also died in a gun battle that ensued.
Babu then claimed that his rivals had made seven attempts on his life.
In 2003, Babu, then a legislator, was arrested for allegedly torching the son of a Telugu Desam Party leader to death.
Babu was suspended from the Congress party. He fought 2004 elections from Chittoor as an independent candidate but the TDP wrested the seat. He was re-admitted in the Congress in 2005 following his acquittal.