ELURU: At least 50 people staged a dharna at Mogaltur Police Station on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday after police lathi-charged them at Perupalem beach when they were picnicking there. The eight youth arrested after the scuffle have been let out on bail and five of them shifted to the Eluru Government Hospital.
The victims, from Gollagudem village of Unguturu mandal, said they had gone to Perupalem beach for a picnic when cops thrashed them around 1:30 pm for venturing into the sea to swim. Some of the visitors allegedly crossed the rope the police had tied demarcating accident prone areas. A constable spotted Dasari Satyanarayana crossing the rope along with a few other youth. He immediately warned them to come back as the area was prone to accidents. Throwing caution to the winds, the youngsters went further into the waters. The constable then pulled out Satyanarayana from the sea after which an argument broke out between the two.
Soon, Veeravasaram and Yalamanchili Police Station sub-inspectors and other cops on duty rushed to the spot and lathi-charged the visitors.
Protestors alleged the arrested youth were beaten up again in custody and demanded that the government suspend the SI and constables who attacked the youth.
After the dharna, the cops released Vemulapalli Sudheer, Vemulapalli Srinivas, Mullapudi Satyanarayana, Dasari Pulla Rao, T Nageswara Rao, Paladugu Prasad and Dasari Balaramamurthy on station bail. Of the injured, five — Rajasekhar, Pulla Rao, Murthy, Nageswara Rao and Sudheer — were shifted to the Eluru Government Hospital around 2.00 am. Sudheer alleged that the police took their signatures on blank papers.