Playing in abandoned quarry turns fatal for 2

A small pond that has formed in an abandoned granite quarry in Bachupally on the city outskirts claimed the lives of two boys — G. David Raju, 14, and S. Chanti, 9 — who had gone to play there on Sunday.

From October 2016, six persons have drowned in the pond in the quarry.

The quarry was abandoned more than eight years ago after granite was extracted by the contractor, but there are no cautionary signs in the surroundings. Because of this, many people from the surroundings come to the quarry pond for a picnic.

Police said all those who drowned there did not know to swim.

David Raju, a Class VII student, and Chanti, studying Class II, were residents of Rajiv Gandhinagar under the Bachupally police limits. They had been to the quarry pond earlier, located about 2 km from their houses. On Sunday too, they went with their friends to the quarry to play.

Usually, people enter the pond from one side where it is shallow. On Sunday, Raju and Chanti entered the pond from a spot where the water is 20 feet deep and has sharp edged rocks.

As they started drowning and shouting for help, the other boys who accompanied them rushed back home and informed their parents. They alerted the police and went to the pond.

The bodies were recovered from the pond and sent for an autopsy.

Bachupally inspector K. Balakrishna Reddy said they are trying identify the other boys who were at the pond to get more details. He said a case of suspicious death had been registered and a probe was underway. A farmer from Nalgonda who is a key witness in a rape-cum-murder case of a 25-year-old woman at Chandur in 2017, has alleged that he is being threatened by the Chandur station house officer to withdraw his statement.

The farmer, Mr Gajjala Raghava Reddy of Thummalapally in Chandur mandal, approached the State Human Rights Commision with the complaint on Sunday. The Commission cdmitted his petition and ordered the Nalgonda superintendent of police to submit a report by June 19.

Mr Raghava Reddy in his petition stated when the woman was raped and murdered, he came forward as the witness and gave a statement against the accused. He also helped the victim’s father approach the SHRC in November 2017 and file a petition seeking justice.

Since then, he alleged, Chandur SHO P. Ramesh Kumar and the accused were threatening him with dire consequences. He alleged that the SHO had taken a bribe of `3 lakh from the accused to dilute the case.

After reports of the victim’s family approaching NHRC, the SHO started harassing him, he said. One of the accused, B. Mohan Reddy, lodged a cheating case against Raghava Reddy in connection with a land deal and he was arrested and sent to remand.