The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Watchman beaten to death in Alwal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 22, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Watchman beaten to death in Alwal

Staff Reporter

Residents suspect his role in thefts; no criminal cases against the watchman: police

GRIEF STRUCK: Kurumaiah's wife and relatives crying inconsolably after hearing about his death at Alwal in the city on Monday. — Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Residents of Suryanagar Colony in Alwal allegedly beat to death R. Kurumaiah, a watchman, in the early hours of Monday, suspecting his involvement in thefts. They also attacked four others suspecting their involvement.

"Three of them turned out to be innocent and hence we let them off. Probe is on against the fourth one, Muthyalu, based on whose statement the residents attacked Kurumaiah," police said.

Some residents of the colony were on a night patrol when they saw two persons knocking the doors of a house around 1 a.m. "When they tried to stop them, they ran away. But the residents managed to nab Muthyalu," association president R. Chandrashekhar said.

Apparently angered over the `increasing' number of thefts and burglaries in the area, residents started attacking Muthyalu till he took them to Kurumaiah's hut.

Hut ransacked

"We were sleeping when everybody barged in yelling at us," Kurumaiah's wife, Saraswathi, said.

The crowd ransacked the hut, dragged the watchman out and started assaulting him physically. When Saraswathi intervened, she too was beaten up.

Saraswathi, with her two children, tried to reach everyone in the area whom she knew, but in vain.

"I tried to go back to the colony where my husband was tied and beaten up. But they drove me away," she said. Finally, she went to her relative's house in Trimulgherry and returned by 7 a.m. with them, only to see her husband dead.

Alwal police disputed the residents' claim about the increasing number of thefts in the locality. Inspector Krishna Reddy said not many thefts or burglaries were reported in the colony as claimed by the locals. There are no criminal cases against Kurumaiah also, he said.

Police were not sure why Muthyalu took the people to Kurumaiah's hut. "Investigations are on to find out the reason behind this," Mr. Reddy said.

Stage demo

Later in the evening, Kurukaiah's relatives brought his body and staged a demonstration in front of the Alwal police station for more than three hours demanding arrest of the accused.

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