Razakar carnage survivor reminisces horror

One of the survivors of Razakar terror Chitti Kommalu (99) of Perumandla Sankeesa village in Dornakal mandal of Warangal district recalls the horror in 1948. Photo: M. Murali

Come September, the sleepy Perumandla Sankeesa village in this mandal gets into a kind of mourning mode.

The elderly and young gather and go round the village, located far away from the district headquarters, telling each other of how the Razakars unleashed terror on September 1, 1948. The Razakars, the private army of Nizam thronged the village, raped women, thrashed innocent villagers and shot dead 21 people who were demanding that the dominion be merged with Indian Union that got independence on August 15, 1947.

One of the three survivors of that carnage, 99-year-old Chitti Kommalu reminiscing those horrific moments told The Hindu: “About 25 to 30 Razakars came on horses and gathered several people. They took villagers to the outskirts and made them stand in a circle before shooting them dead. They burnt hay stacks and threw those injured and surviving into the fire”.

Armed struggle

Several young people from the village joined the armed struggle led by the Communists those days against the feudal lords and the Nizam. They demanded for merger of Telangana state into Indian Union.

The Razakars came hunting for the armed people who were hiding in jungles and attacking the feudal army now and then. The private army of Nizam butchered innocent villagers asking for whereabouts of the armed people. To quell the uprising and to instil fear, they pounded the villages, torched the houses and raped women.

Mr. Kommalu said that women ran away on seeing the Razakars and hid in maize fields. But they were chased and hunted down by the Razakars and raped openly in broad daylight.

Raided three times

“The Razakars raided our village three times in six months in 1947 and 1948. I was caught alive and hanged upside down. They tortured me seeking the whereabouts of Thumma Seshaih, the commander of armed squad in this area. I was sent to jail for one and half years at Warangal, Gulbarge and Jalna. I was released after six months of police action that led to Telangana liberation and merger with Indian Union,” Mr. Kommalu related to the incidents.