The Hindu : Front Page : 13 injured in attack on Kompally residents

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Tuesday, Aug 01, 2006

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13 injured in attack on Kompally residents

Staff Reporter

While victims allege hand of Congressmen, police say it is a clash between flat-owners

IN PIECES: Victims of attack assess the damage at Prajay Apartments at Kompally Colony at Medchal in Ranga Reddy district on Monday. — PHOTO: P.V.Sivakumar .

HYDERABAD: A group of people, suspected to be Congress workers, allegedly went on a rampage in a colony at Kompally on Sunday night and inflicted injuries on at least 13 persons, mostly women, accusing them of being responsible for the party's defeat in the gram panchayat elections held on Saturday.

Tension escalated in the Prajay Syndicate Colony after 100 activists, said to be followers of the Congress candidate Adireddy Bal Reddy, who lost in the contest, attacked the residents. The assailants thrashed and trampled over women who came to the rescue of their neighbours. "They did not even spare a woman who delivered a baby recently," a resident Krishna Veni said.

Several women alleged that the activists forcibly entered their houses, ransacked household articles and damaged windowpanes.

The intruders allegedly threatened them with dire consequences if they continued to support the Telugu Desam Party. "Bal Reddy and his family bore a grudge against us after we supported TDP candidate S. Srisailam Yadav in the elections. Bal Reddy and his followers went berserk hours after Srisailam organised a victory rally on Sunday night," another resident Amala said.

`Police inaction'

The residents alleged that the police were trying to project it as a group clash instead of taking action against the assailants "Is this the way the police react to the horrifying incident?" they complained when senior TDP leader T. Devender Goud visited the locality.Meanwhile, Alwal Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Laxma Reddy too said that it was indeed a clash between flat-owners. "Residents took advantage of the elections and raised the issue," the ACP said adding that the situation was under control. Cases have been booked against activists of both Congress and TDP.

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