VIZIANAGARAM: A tribal couple were hacked to death on Monday afternoon on the outskirts of the Palikavalasa village in the limits of Chemudu Panchayat of Makkuva mandal, allegedly due to old rivalries. While the deceased have been identified as Ommi Somulu (55) and Ommi Narayanamma (50), both residents of Palikavalasa village of Makkuva mandal, the accused has been identified as Gunnepalli Simhadri, also a resident of Palikivalasa.
According to Makkuva police and other sources, the couple had been surviving by doing farming on the residual land, measuring close to an acre, under Vengalaraya Sagar project near the village.
However, the accused had developed a rivalry with the couple and made many attempts to grab the land from the deceased. On Monday afternoon, the couple had gone to the village outskirts, where their goats were grazing. On receiving this information, the accused also went to the outskirts and found the couple resting under a tree. He then jumped on them and hacked the couple with an axe. They died on the spot.
The accused then surrendered to the police voluntarily. On getting the information of this incident, the police rushed to the spot and shifted the bodies to the hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered at Makkuva police station.