e do not know anything about the incident. We were confined to our houses as outsiders in large number were around in the village with highly charged atmosphere. We came out only after the police made their presence felt in sufficient number,” said Anitha, a resident of Ibrahimpur village in Siddipet mandal of Medak district, on Saturday.
The village was witness to large-scale destruction and attacks that took place 24 hours ago. The house of sarpanch Kambala Lakshmi, whose sons allegedly attacked a person, consequently leading to his death, explains the story with charred furniture, half-burnt material and twisted utensils and fans.
“Around 50 people from Jillela village in Karimnagar district came initially, supposedly with the body of Sriram Srihari, and placed it in front of Gandhi statue and started agitating. They were out of control and we were confined to our house,” Kambala Malla Reddy, who shares the same roof with Ms. Lakshmi, a relative, told The Hindu . He poured water to prevent spread of fire from Lakshmi’s house. There was very little movement in the village, adopted by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao, who has taken up many community activities like construction of soak pits and taking up plantation under ‘Harita Haram’. The village actually became a model for other States as well. However, none of the villagers are ready to speak about what happened on Friday.
The victim, Sriram Srihari, 35, hails from Jillela in Mustabad mandal of Karimangar district in Sircilla constituency.
It is five kilometres away from Ibrahimpur. For the record, Srihari was a supervisor who used to supply beedi leaves and collect them from workers in about five villages, including Ibrahimpur. His vehicle accidentally hit Lakshmi on Thursday and agitated over it, her sons - Yella Reddy and Nagi Reddy, and their friends Mahender Reddy and Mallikarjun Reddy – allegedly beat him black and blue. After taking some medicines at Mustabad, Srihari went to Jillela and died of blood vomiting next day.
On coming to know of this, about 600 people, including women, attacked the house of Lakshmi on Friday, burnt it down and even tried to burn her alive. Timely intervention by Siddipet Sub-Inspector (Rural) M. Rajendra Prasad saved the day. As a precautionary measure, about 100 police personnel, including three Circle Inspectors, and five Sub-Inspectors, will continue to camp in the village for the next few days.
