HYDERABAD: In an inhuman act, an auto driver was beaten up and thrown into the funeral pyre of a woman, who allegedly died due to black magic performed by him, in Shameerpet on the city’s outskirts on Wednesday. Four of the woman’s relatives have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Balanagar PV Padmaja said that the relatives of the woman, Gyara Laxmi, 45, suspected that she died of black magic, and anticipated that the person who performed black magic on her would come to the pyre after all of them had left.
Accordingly, a few of them waited and found auto driver Boini Anjaneyulu arriving. They then informed their relatives and others from their community, and soon, a crowd gathered near the pyre. They assaulted Anjaneyulu with axes, stones and sticks, and threw him alive into the pyre.
Burnt torso of auto driver recovered from the pyre
Laxmi, a resident of Adraspalli, under the Shameerpet police limits, was suffering from an illness for the last five years and underwent treatment at several places without any relief. She was admitted to Osmania Hospital a week ago when her condition worsened. On Tuesday evening, she breathed her last, after which her relatives performed her final rites on the outskirts of the village on Wednesday evening.
Village sarpanch B Lalitha’s husband Narasimha said he received a call from one Narsaiah saying there was some trouble. “When I asked what was happening, the call got disconnected, and since then, his phone was switched off. I immediately alerted other leaders and the police,” he said.
Police teams rushed to the spot and found Laxmi’s body completely burnt and Anjaneyulu’s partially burnt, with his torso visible. They pulled it out of the fire and later sent it for a post-mortem examination. Bones and bloodstains from the pyre were sent for DNA testing. News of the incident spread like wildfire in the village and tension mounted as the families of Laxmi and Anjaneyulu entered into an argument. Several police personnel were deployed and pickets set up in the village as a precautionary measure.
Prima facie, a missing case was registered, but after examining witnesses and clues, the police altered it to a murder case. Four of Laxmi’s relatives — Gyara Balaram, Gyara Kistaiah, Gyara Narsimha and Bandala Sriramulu — were arrested.