VIJAYAWADA: A 52-year-old daily-wage worker died at Pedakesapalli village of Mopidevi mandal on Sunday when he jumped into a canal while trying to escape from police.The victim, identified as Musalam Ramanjaneyulu of Pedakesapalli, was reportedly playing cards when Challapalli Police swooped down on him.
Around 10 am, Ramanjaneyulu and his friends Seenayya and Babu got together to play cards.Upon receiving information from villagers that some people were gambling near the Siva temple in the village, Challapalli sub-inspector Dadi Chandrasekhar along with three constables raided the place. When they heard the sound of a police vehicle, all three ran helter-skelter. While two of the friends jumped a wall and escaped, the deceased ran towards the canal and finding no place to hide himself, jumped into the canal.
“In his haste to escape from the police, Ramanjaneyulu jumped into the canal and drowned,” said Dadi Chandrasekhar.Defending his move to raid the place, the SI said though the incident was unfortunate the police were duty-bound to curb anti-social activities.