During the ongoing tussle with his father Manchu Mohan Babu over property issues, Manchu Manoj took the name of one Vinay, who he alleged was responsible for the rift within the family.
This has raised a lot of curiosity as to who this Vinay is and what interest he has in the property disputes in the Mohan Babu family.
According to sources, he is Vinay Maheshwari, the executive director of Mohan Babu University, earlier referred to as Sree Vidyaniketan Educational Institutions, located near Chandragiri in Tirupati district.
He had earlier worked for popular Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar group as senior vice-president and was credited for shooting up the daily’s circulation and advertising revenue and making it the largest media conglomerate in the country.
Later, for reasons known to him, Vinay came out of the Dainik Bhaskar group and joined Sakshi media house, promoted by YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s family, as its chief executive officer and executive director on the board.
Apparently, Jagan’s wife Bharati Reddy hired him taking into consideration his rich experience in print journalism and management and hoping that he would bring fresh perspective to the organisation.
But during his tenure, Sakshi did not make any improvement and in fact, there were complaints that many people in Sakshi suffered due to his high-handed attitude. Finally, Vinay left Sakshi group in 2022.
Later, sources said, Vinay joined Mohan Babu’s educational institutions and soon, began taking control of their financial management. He has started managing anything and everything related to Mohan Babu, including film projects of Vishnu.
Apparently, the disputes between Mohan Babu and Manoj began only after Vinay’s entry into the group companies. Allegedly, Vinay planned to sideline Manoj from gaining a stake in their university, collaborating with Vishnu to execute his strategy.
Manoj's friends have highlighted Vinay's manipulation, citing his use of Mohan Babu's admiration for praise as leverage.
According to latest reports, Vinay was also responsible for sidelining Manchu Lakshmi and forced her to step back from the family matters.
Additionally, friends of Manoj suggest that his marriage to Mounika faced significant opposition within the family, which Vinay allegedly used to his advantage.