The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fear grips Hasthinapuram residents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fear grips Hasthinapuram residents

Marri Ramu

People reluctant to talk about naxal couple's death in an encounter

A SCARED LOT: Residents opposite the house where the police had shot dead the naxalite couple in an encounter in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Satish H.

HYDERABAD: This is the second time in the last five years the serene and green Hasthianapuram Colony on the city's fringes hit the headlines. The locality shot into prominence when Padmapani Acharya laid down his life in the Kargil conflict in 2001. It was in focus again on Wednesday when police shot dead a naxal couple.

The killing gripped the residents with fear. People were reluctant to speak about the incident. "We don't know anything about them and the incident. No questions please," was the common refrain.

Twenty-four hours later, locals are yet to come to terms with the fact that the slain persons, who had moved among them till the other day, were extremists. "I am shocked and so are all the neighbours," was how Alivelu, a housewife who lives opposite the couple's rented portion, reacted.

Moved by death

Notwithstanding the claims of the police about the duo's background, Ms. Alivelu was a bit moved over the deaths. "I saw her (Sammakka) for the first time around 2.30 p.m. when she came down to buy vegetables. Three hours later, I heard gun shots and later learnt that she was killed in an encounter," she said.

Following the incident, a majority of the house owners reached a consensus on one issue - to verify the credentials of tenants before letting out the portions. "Not that everyone is a suspect. But I want to make doubly sure that no law violator lives on my premises," a businessman, Venu, said. The other day, a person claiming to be a private college lecturer in Nalgonda paid advance for his portion. Now, crosschecking his details is on top of Mr. Venu's agenda.

They are worried because the house in which the slain couple lived belonged to a police constable, M. Nalla Reddy. It is a sheer coincidence that a driver with the Cyberabad police too lives on the second floor of the same house.

It was a shock of her life for Nalla Reddy's wife, Satyamma. Being a policeman's wife, she heard about `police operations'. But, this was the first time she witnessed the `real action'. "I cannot forget a profusely bleeding SI, who suffered a bullet wound on his knee in the encounter, being shifted to hospital," she recalled.

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