By Priyanka Kanoj

Hyderabad, Oct 11 (IANS): Samantha Ruth Prabhu's stylist, Preetham Jukalkar, has been receiving death threats allegedly from her estranged husband Akkineni Naga Chaitanya's supporters on YouTube as a result of a rumour circulating about him and the Tollywood actress.

The separated couple had requested in social media posts that they be allowed some privacy after they went public with their decision, but that hasn't stopped Jukalkar from facing negativity from Naga Chaitanya's fans.

Jukalkar is not only Samantha's stylist, but also one of her closest friends. After the high-profile couple announced their separation, rumours linking up Jukalkar and Samantha, insinuating that their alleged closeness was the reason for the split, started circulating.

Jukalkar, in fact, was being targeted by some of Chaitanya's fans for being 'too close' to Samantha ever since the talk about the impending separation gained momentum. Some of the YouTubers who were targeting Jukalkar blamed him for sharing a "cynical" relationship with Samantha.

The young stylist also made headlines when he shared a cryptic post on his Instagram stories on "violence against women". Each post from his social media handle is being watched and being targeted by trolls.

Samantha's fans have countered the charge by insisting that Jukalkar always addresses the actress as 'jiji' (sister), but multiple social media handles have been posting hate messages targeting the stylist.

To scotch the rumours, Samantha had earlier taken to social media pages to put up an emotional post. She said: "They say I had affairs, never wanted children, that I am an opportunist, and now that I have had abortions."

Samantha added feistily: "A divorce is an extremely painful process. Let [me be] alone allowing me the time to heal. This attack on me personally has been relentless. But I promise you this, I will never allow this or anything else they say, break me."