Deccan Chronicle

SARPANCH RUN OVER, 200 LORRIES SMASHED

Srinivas attacked with wooden logs, dies on the spot

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People of Ladnapur smashed window panes of some 200 lorries plying on the road near their village in Ramagiri mandal following the death of Eluvaka Rajaiah, a sarpanch belonging to the Congress.

He was hit by a sandladen lorry in the village on Sunday evening.

Rajaiah, 60, was the Upa Sarpanch of Adivarampe­ta village. Tension prevailed in Ladnapur following his death.

The irate villagers staged a “rasta roko” claiming that Rajaiah’s death was a a planned murder and a political conspiracy as he had strongly opposed the illegal sand mining.

A 38-year old farmerturn­ed-politician was brutally murdered by four people at Mylaram village in Vikarabad district on Sunday afternoon in what could be a politicall­y motivated crime.

The suspects waylaid Pendyala Srinivas, who was riding pillion and attacked him and the rider with wooden logs. While Srinivas died on the spot, the rider ran for his life through the fields.

DSP Vikarabad Sirisha Raghavendr­a said the motive was a land dispute between the families of the deceased and the killers. Special teams have been formed to nab the killers.

Srinivas from Mylaram village in Dharur mandal was the son of a former village sarpanch Lalamma. He was an active worker of the Telanagana Rashtra Samithi party and was well known in the village and considered to be the top contender for the post of sarpanch in the forthcomin­g panchayat elections. Being the son of a former sarpanch, his chances of getting elected were very strong, and this did not go down well with his opponents in the village.

According to the police, on Sunday morning, Srinivas and another person attended a marriage in a neighbouri­ng tanda. Around 12.45 pm, when the two were returning home, four men came up on two bikes from the opposite direction, waylaid them and started attacking them both. The two men fell off the bike and were immediatel­y pounced upon and beaten with wooden logs, with Srinivas being the main target.

“Srinivas had severe injuries on his head, resulting in his instant death. Though land disputes are the main reason behind the murder, other angles are also being probed,” DSP Raghavendr­a said.

Sources have confirmed that the names of the attackers are Dasu, Rathnam, Prashanth and Arun, all belonging to the same village and members of an opposition party. Dasu was involved in a murder case in 2013 investigat­ed by the Yalal police. Srinivas’s body was handed over to his family after an autopsy. Security has been stepped up in the village as a preventive measure till the final rites are completed on Monday.

 ??  ?? Pendyala Srinivas
Pendyala Srinivas

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