The inconsolable family members of the victim at their residence on Saturday. (Photo | Express)
MAHBUBNAGAR: A 15-year-old Class X girl from the Lambada community was found hanging under suspicious circumstances in her house at Keshyanayak thanda of Balanagar mandal on Saturday morning. Her parents were not at home when the incident occurred.
A series of incidents occurred late on Friday night leading to the girl being found dead early in the morning on Saturday. A youth, named Shiva from Chinna Revalli was caught moving suspiciously on the outskirts of the thanda late in the night by the girl’s cousin Seenu and her paternal uncle Seenu. When the duo confronted him, Shiva told them that he had come to buy liquor from the belt shop being run by the parents of the girl. On further questioning, he reportedly revealed that he struck a friendship with the victim on social media and showed them the WhatsApp messages between him and her.
Guilty won’t be spared: MLA
In a fit of rage, the victim’s cousin Seenu took Shiva on his bike to the girl’s house and knocked on the door. When she did not respond, he beat up Shiva and let the latter go. Mohan Naik, a resident of the thanda, told TNIE that the girl’s relatives recorded their chat conversations. “Shiva asked the girl to turn off the lights, saying that he was coming from the cotton field, and also cautioned her that there were two persons drinking alcohol near her house,” Naik said.
Naik said that the girl’s younger brother who is in Class IV was at home at the time of her death. Villagers said that the girl spoke with her father on phone at 6 am on Saturday morning, just before she was found dead. The angry villagers attacked Shiva’s house and burnt his car, alleging that three persons hanged her for resisting their rape attempt. They didn’t allow her body to be taken for a post-mortem till Saturday night.
Jadcherla MLA C Laxma Reddy, who went to see the girl’s body, said whoever was responsible for the rape and murder would be brought to justice. Mahbubnagar SP R Venkateswarlu told TNIE that the hamlet residents prevented the police from taking the body for post-mortem and demanded an ex gratia for her parents.
He further said that no arrests were made as the cause of the girl’s death was not established. On the possibility of it being an honour killing, the SP said that he couldn’t comment as the investigation is still on and the issue is sensitive.