Tribal woman murder case reveals chilling details in Telangana

Police investigations into the murder of a pregnant tribal woman in Kumram Bheem Asifabad revealed that the accused was intoxicated and killed her fearing exposure after she approached community elders, following a long-standing relationship and dispute over marriage

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Investigations into the murder of a 25-year-old pregnant tribal woman from Kondapalli village in Penchikalpet mandal revealed that the accused was in an inebriated condition at the time of the crime, while the victim was reportedly planning to abort her pregnancy.

According to police, the accused, Kelkari Jalapathi, a married man from the neighbouring hamlet of Jaihindpur, consumed liquor before allegedly murdering Athram Sammakka, daughter of Shankar, a small-time farmer. He took her to a secluded spot in the forest on the outskirts of Kondapalli, where they had been meeting secretly at regular intervals after she approached a local elder from her community seeking justice on Saturday evening.

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Police said Sammakka had developed a relationship with Jalapathi, a farmer, after they met during farm work six years ago. However, Jalapathi refused to marry her, citing caste differences, as she belonged to the ST community, Koya, while he was from a BC caste. Community elders had imposed a fine of Rs 1.10 lakh on Jalapathi for cheating her. He paid Rs 35,000 but delayed payment of the remaining amount, citing various reasons. Jalapathi later married another woman from his community. Despite this, Sammakka continued to maintain contact with him, expecting that he would eventually marry her, and became pregnant seven months ago. “While Sammakka wanted to abort the pregnancy due to social taboo, Jalapathi dissuaded her, promising to do justice to her in the near future,” a police official said.

Police said Jalapathi panicked after Sammakka approached a community elder and decided to eliminate her. He allegedly struck her on the temple with his fist, rendering her unconscious, and then killed her by hitting her on the head with a blunt object. After the incident, Jalapathi went to Maharashtra and informed his younger brother Thirupathi on Sunday. The latter alerted their elder brother, who informed the local police later that evening.

Police teams launched a search operation and traced the body after trekking nearly three kilometres into the forest near Kondapalli on Monday.