21-year-old woman’s death sparks protest in Warangal; Family suspect gang-rape

A 21-year-old nurse was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in Warangal district, triggering widespread protests. Her family alleged that four youths abducted her to a maize field, raped and murdered her, and staged the scene as suicide.

Warangal: A 21-year-old woman was found hanging from the ceiling at her house and her death sparked protests in Rayaparthy mandal in the district on Thursday as her family members alleged that she was gang-raped by four youths of a nearby thanda.

The woman’s family members and the villagers alleged that four youths took the woman forcibly to a nearby maize field on Wednesday night, raped and killed her and subsequently hanged her at her own house to make her death look like a suicide, they alleged. The incident came to light on Thursday.

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Demanding justice, the family members staged a protest on the Warangal-Khammam national highway in front of the mortuary at Wardhannapet municipal headquarters. They asserted that they would not allow the post-mortem to proceed until the youths were arrested.

They said that the woman’s parents live in Hyderabad to earn livelihood while she worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Narsampet and was staying alone in her home at AK Thanda. The accused, in the guise of friendship, committed the crime, they noted.

The protesting family members told the media that the woman was found hanging from the ceiling inside a room at the house and there was a pool of blood in the room as she had suffered severe bleeding.

The family members complained that when they demanded the police to arrest the accused of Ravuru Sitya thanda in the mandal they were told to wait for the post-mortem report even though there were call records of the deceased woman.

They alleged that the youths involved were habitually under the influence of marijuana. The post-mortem was finally conducted after the police gave an assurance to the deceased woman’s family members that they would ensure justice.