The Hindu : National : Alleged molester burnt to death

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National

Alleged molester burnt to death

Staff Reporter

Police fail to stop the ghastly murder despite arriving on time

WARANGAL: In a bizarre incident, the villagers of Raghunathpalli in Zafargadh mandal on Tuesday afternoon burnt a man alive when he tried to molest a girl and when she resisted, caused her serious injuries.

What is worse is the fact that the man was burnt after police had arrived there. The villagers prevented the policemen from thwarting their action.

The man was identified as Jilla Babu of Perumandlagudem of Wardhannapet mandal who ekes out a living by administering pesticides to coconut trees. He had gone to Raghunathpalli where he noticed an 18-year-old girl alone in a house.

He asked her for a glass of water and when she went inside, he followed her and tried to molest her. When she resisted, Babu, in a fit of anger, picked up a hammer lying nearby and hit her on her head.

As she fell down, Babu tried to escape but not before he was spotted by a neighbour who grew suspicious as she knew the girl was alone in her house since morning.

Finding her lying in a pool of blood, she raised an alarm. Villagers, particularly youth, gathered in large numbers. They chased and caught Babu before he could leave the village. Police arrived on the spot and took the accused into custody.

Local youth, however, managed to take him away and dragged Babu to the village square where they stoned him. Later, some of them doused him with kerosene, dumped a haystack over him and set him afire. Some other villagers prevented the police from intervening and Babu died on the spot.

Superintendent of Police J Prabahakar Rao, DSPs Venkateswar Rao (Mamnoor) and Ajay Kumar (Warangal), and other senior officers rushed to the spot.

The seriously injured girl was shifted to the MGM Hospital at district headquarters where her condition was critical.

Speaking to The Hindu, district Collector Mr. Rahul Bojja said the administration was arranging for shifting of the girl to Hyderabad on the advice of doctors.

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