VIJAYAWADA: Residents of Sivalayam Street in Satyanarayanapuram woke up to a rude shock on Saturday morning when they saw posters ‘threatening’ to eliminate three persons in the name of ‘honour killing’ in their locality.
Printed on A4 paper, the message in Telugu read ‘Paruvu Hatyaku Guri Kanunna Soni Rahu Priya’ (Soni, Rahu and Priya are going to be the next victims of honour killing), which sent locals and police into a tizzy. The posters, numbering around 10, were pasted on the walls of the houses and cement pillars.
The news spread like wildfire with the residents and youth circulating the pictures of the poster on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
“While I was on my way to purchase milk and vegetables in the morning, I saw the poster on a wall in the street. It seems to be a warning in the wake of the Miryalaguda honour killing incident. I took a photo of the poster and alerted Satyanarayanapuram police,” said Bhaskar Rao, a resident of Sivalayam Street.
The posters appeared in the wake of the honour killing in Miryalaguda and a murder attempt on a newly married inter-caste couple at Erragadda in Hyderabad of neighbouring Telangana, had caused a scare among the residents.
Police conducted a door-to-door survey in the locality enquiring about the recent happenings. It was revealed that no love marriage took place in the area.
“There is no one with the names of Soni, Rahu and Priya in the locality, which was revealed during the inquiry” said Inspector P Kanaka Rao.
Police suspect the hand of some mischief mongers behind the posters. “We urged all house owners in the street to give CCTV camera footage recorded on Friday night so that the accused could be identified,” CI said. “We also asked all Internet centre and Xerox shop owners to alert us if anyone took copies of such poster. The miscreants might have pasted the posters late in the night to create panic among local people,” the CI added.
“The names mentioned in the posters seem to be of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi. But, we have not come to any conclusion on the threat of honour killing,” the CI said. Police are on the lookout for the mischief mongers, who pasted the posters.