SIDDIPET: In a case of discrimination against Dalits, a person belonging to the SC community was offloaded from a bus after three persons belonging to other castes objected to travelling with him.
The incident took place in Toguta mandal.
According to police, tour operator Venu had organised a one-week tour to Tirupati and nearby pilgrim places from Venkatraopet village in the mandal. On Wednesday, Venu picked up several passengers from nearby villages and reached Venkatraopet. At the village, three people who booked tickets for the tour along with their families allegedly objected to a Dalit, Balaiah, travelling in the same bus.
They allegedly threatened to cancel their tickets if Balaiah were allowed on the bus, flatly refusing to ride along with a co-passenger who was a Dalit.
Fearing that three families would en masse cancel their tickets, Venu asked Balaiah to get off the bus, Toguta police inspector Somanarayan Singh said.
Later, however, Venu filed a complaint, based on which police registered cases under the SC/ST Act against three persons, K Narismhulu, V Satyanarayana and Sattaiah, and took up investigation.