Iron fence claims two lives in 24 hours in Kothagudem’s Tekulapally

An electrified iron fence around a farm field in Bodu gram panchayat of Tekulapally mandal claimed two lives within 24 hours. A farm labourer died of electrocution, while the landowner allegedly died by suicide fearing legal action in the case.

Kothagudem: An iron fence set up around a farm field has claimed two lives within 24 hours in Bodu gram panchayat of Tekulapally mandal in the district.

It may be recalled that a farm labourer, Podem Chukkamma (55), the mother-in-law of Bodu sarpanch Podem Swarupa, had gone to a cotton field cultivated by a tenant farmer, Lalu, at Mokkampadu village and died of electrocution on Wednesday.

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She suffered a severe electric shock while crossing an electrified fence erected on the edge of the field and died on the way to hospital. Tekulapally police SI P Srinivas Reddy registered a case in connection with the incident.

As the case was under investigation, a farmer, Made Papaiah, who owns the land cultivated by Lalu, allegedly died by suicide on Thursday. He was found hanging from a tree in his farm field.

According to villagers, Papaiah was deeply distressed by the fear that a case would be registered against him over the death of Chukkamma and ended his life. He had developed a small fish pond adjacent to the cotton field and erected a fence around it.

It was not clear whether electricity passed through the fence by accident or whether Papaiah had deliberately electrified the fence to protect his fish pond from intruders. The local police registered a case and took up an investigation into the incident.