An unidentified woman aged about 50 years was severely beaten up by residents of Jawaharlal Nehru Colony (JNC) under Rudrur gram panchayat in Varni mandal on the suspicion that she was resorting to witchcraft, on Thursday.
The condition of the woman who was admitted to the ICU in the Government Medical College cum Teaching Hospital here is critical. “We cannot say anything about her survival as of now given her condition” said Dr. A. Vishal, Resident Medical Officer.
Sub-Inspector of Police Y. Sukhender Reddy said that the woman was apparently mentally unsound, but the locals saw her fidgeting with turmeric powder and other things near a temple and grew suspicious. As many of the accused, mostly labourers, were unlettered, they beat her up her badly.
In fact, the woman was not a resident of Rudrur and came to the village from somewhere a week ago.
SI suspended
The Deputy IG of Police, Nizamabad Range, Y. Gangadhar on the recommendation of Superintendent of Police S. Chandrashekar Reddy, on Thursday, issued orders suspending the Jakranpally SI Jakkula Hanmanth for dereliction of duty.
In a press release the SP said that Hanmanth did not respond immediately when an autorikshaw driver P. Praveen Goud of Perkit village in Armoor mandal approached him and lodged a complaint saying that two unidentified persons who travelled in his auto threatened him and took away the vehicle on March 19 night. The SI did not register the case even after the complainant approached him three times. Vexed with the attitude of Hanmanth the autorikshaw driver ultimately appealed to the SP on April 13. After proper enquiry Mr. Chandrashekar Reddy ordered the suspension of Hanmanth.
