Medak: Land grabbers attack tribal farmers as police watch

The Tekmal police allegedly stood and watched while the accused were attacking the women with axes and sticks.

Medak: In a shocking incident, some landgrabbers attacked tribal women who were cultivating on forest land (podu lands) for five decades, when they protested against the landgrabbers entering their land at Shabad Thanda in Tekmal mandal on Monday.

The Tekmal police allegedly stood and watched while the accused were attacking the women with axes and sticks. While one of the victims sustained a serious head injury, another woman sustained an injury in her ribs. The third victim sustained a fracture on her leg.

---

Though the tribal families approached the police and filed a complaint, the police have not registered an FIR so far. The victims were admitted to the hospital. One of the victims, Ramavath Bujji, wife of a farmer Shankar, said there were about 360 acres of forest land in survey number 86 in the village.

While the government had given pattas for 210 acres, 150 acres was being cultivated by Ramavatha Shankar, Ramavath Anil, Ramavath Ram Singh and a few other farmers for over 50 years.

However, three persons in the village – Prakash, Dinesh and Sevalal – who allegedly were supported by local Congress leaders, were trying to encroach on their land. When they approached Tekmal police, another victim Yamuna said the police filed false cases against their husbands Shankar, Ram Singh and Anil, and sent them to remand a few days ago. While they were still in jail, the accused were making attempts to take possession of the land.

Yamuna said the trio of Prakash, Dinesh, and Sevalal and their men attacked them indiscriminately. The three victims were shifted to the government hospital in Medak for treatment.

Former Andole MLA Chanti Kranthi Kiran visited the victims in hospital. Later, he along with the kin of the farmers submitted a written complaint to Medak SP D Uday Kumar Reddy, appealing to arrest the accused after an investigation into the entire episode. Talking to the media later, Kranthi Kiran alleged that Health Minister Damodara Rajanarasimha was responsible for the attack and said the police were acting under the influence of the minister. One of the accused, Sevalal, a local Congress leader, was a close aide of the minister, he alleged.