GUNTUR: A 34-year-old home-alone mother of two was murdered for resisting an alleged sexual assault at Thummapadi in Duggirala mandal here on Wednesday, police said after recording the arrest of two men on Thursday.The woman’s relatives alleged that she was gang-raped by three people. Police said she was not sexually assaulted and only two persons were involved in the crime.
The incident triggered a political furore with the opposition parties accusing the government of failing to protect women.Thummapadi witnessed tense moments when TDP leader Nara Lokesh visited the village on Thursday and some people, reportedly YSRC supporters, pelted stones at their rival leaders.
District police superintendent K Arif Hafeez said the two accused, K Venkata Sai Satish and M Siva Satya Sairam visited the woman on Wednesday.
Satish spent some time with her, and returned around 2 pm. The woman was reportedly close to Satish, the second accused.“His friend Sairam later went inside and made sexual advances towards her. As the woman resisted, he strangled her with a saree. The men then fled the scene with her mobile phone,” the officer added. Police said the woman’s husband had been away in Tirupati on business since February. Married for 15 years, the couple sold water pipes used in farms for a living.
The incident came to light when one of her relatives visited her around 2.30 pm, and informed the Duggirala police. The accused men surrendered before the police later in the night. They have been charged with IPC sections 376 read with section 511 (attempt to rape), 302 (murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence). The victim’s husband alleged that three men gang-raped her and the police had let off one of the accused.
“The trio had reportedly consumed alcohol near the house and later raped her. She was naked when my relatives noticed her dead,’’ he said.The victim’s body was shifted to Tenali Government General Hospital for a post-mortem examination.Mild tension prevailed when TDP leaders prevented the police from shifting the body to Thummapudi, saying Nara Lokesh would be visiting the hospital to console the family members. However, the body was shifted to the village.
Lokesh later went to the village and met the family members. Tension prevailed when some people, said to be YSRC activists, pelted TDP leaders with stones. While one stone hit a police officer, another fell near Lokesh. The YSRC and TDP cadres engaged in heated arguments for a while. Lokesh alleged that women are unsafe under the YSRC rule. He sought to know what the police were doing when the YSRC followers pelted stones at them.
Finding fault with the Guntur SP for stating that the victim woman was not gang-raped, Lokesh questioned how the police could make such a statement without getting the postmortem report. He demanded that call data of the SP be revealed to know under whose pressure he had given such a statement.
Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy said the government responded quickly and took action against the accused. He said the TDP leaders vitiated the peaceful atmosphere in the village and alleged that it was the TDP cadre who had pelted stones at the police. Social Welfare Minister Meruga Nagarjuna visited the family and announced `10 lakh financial assistance to the woman’s relatives.