HYDERABAD: While the notorious psychopath, who triggered panic in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh after stinging more than two dozen women and children with a syringe, continues evading police net, it seems the ‘fear factor’ has reached the State capital here.
In a first of its kind incident, a class four student at a private school in Malkajgiri has claimed that she was jabbed by a masked person mount on a dark motor bike, in an attack similar to the incidents in West Godavari district of AP. However, in the absence of any evidence and the considering fact that there were no eyewitnesses, police refused to buy the story and maintained that the girl was ‘confused’.
On Saturday morning, Ramya and two of her classmates reached New Lilly Model High School at Jyothi Nagar in Malkajgiri, a bit early to prepare for Teacher’s Day celebrations. According to the children, they were walking to a stationery shop a few hundred metres away, when a man came on a dark coloured bike, held her arm tightly, pricked and sped away. The assailant had covered his face with a handkerchief, said Ramya. We were dumbstruck and stood watching as the sped away, she told police.
However, Police were unable to confirm the incident as the girl, according to them, was giving multiple versions when questioned. Further, police have found out similar prick marks on two other places on her body. “It does not seem to be a serious incident as the girl herself seems quite confused. We are anyhow sending her blood samples to the laboratory,” said M Ravichandan Reddy, assistant commissioner of police, Malkajgiri.
A case under section 328 of Indian Penal code on charges of causing hurt by means of poison has been registered. Police officials pointed out that parents have been sensitising children about the recent Bheemavaram incident involving syringe psycho which might have created fear psychosis in her mind. However, they are verifying the facts to unveil the mystery.
Principal of the school Syed Ahmed, who was busy answering anxious parents, claimed that it was not a security lapse on the part of the school. “For about 900 students, we have 36 CCTV cameras of which four are facing the road. We could not retrieve any footage. As soon as the incident happened, the student complained to the in-charge teacher Sudha and we called her parents here. There was some redness on her arm and mild swelling. We do not know what happened,” said the principal.
Meanwhile, Yadagiri, the girl’s father who is a washerman and resident of Indira Nehru Nagar in Malkajgiri, questioned the responsibility of the school authorities. “Though she complained of drowsiness, no one took her to hospital till I reached school about 20 minutes later,” he rued. Ramya’s brother Rakesh and sister Monika are studying in the same school in class 5 and UKG respectively.