Tension prevailed in Manakondur mandal when the villagers led by womenfolk attacked the Manakondur police station in the district on Wednesday alleging that the police high handedness had lead to the suicidal death of a local youth.
Police and villagers said that the local youth had a small tussle with the police, who were on bandobust duty during the Venkateshwara Swamy rathotsavam in the village dring Dasara festival on Tuesday night. The youth in an inebriated condition had fallen on the Sub-Inspector Vamshi Krishna and reportedly caught his shirt collar. He seems to have behaved in a rude manner with the police.
Youth summoned
The police, later, summoned the youth K. Sravan (22), P. Sandeep, S. Sanjeev, K. Srinivas and M. Subhash to the police station on Tuesday allegedly thrashed them black and blue. They registered a criminal case under IPC 332 and 353 sections. Following the intervention by the local elders and sarpanch, the youth were released and the police warned them of dire consequences if they did not visit police station on Wednesday morning.
Humiliated over the registration of criminal case, K. Sravan, who was working in the Forest Department on a temporary basis, had committed suicide by hanging to the ceiling fan in his house in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Traffic obstructed
When the news spread about the suicidal death of the youth, the villagers along with the victim’s family arrived in a procession to the police station along with the body and ransacked the station.
The protesters damaged the police station reception counter, visitors’ lobby, flower pots, lights, complaint box and other properties on the premises. The angry villagers came onto the road and obstructed the traffic on the busy Karimnagar to Warangal road for more than two hours causing inconvenience to the road users.
When the agitationists staged dharna with the body raising slogans against the police brutality, additional police forces were rushed to the venue to avoid any untoward incident. State Cultural Council Chairman and Manakondur MLA Rasamayi Balakishan, former legislator and TPCC SC Cell Chairman Arepalli Mohan, Commissioner of Police V.B. Kamalhasan Reddy also rushed to the spot.
Compensation
Protesters called off their stir following the suspension of SI Vamshi Krishna and order of inquiry into the incident and Mr. Balakishan announced that he would ensure that the victim’s family gets Rs. 10 lakh ex-gratia and employment in the Police Department as home guard to a family member.
