ONGOLE: Two alleged punters fleeing from police during a raid on a den where a cockfight was being organised, drowned in a canal near Chirala town on Tuesday night. The bodies of the deceased were retrieved on Wednesday morning and shifted to the Chirala government hospital for post-mortem.
Tension prevailed at the hospital when the families of the victims staged a protest demanding action against the sub-inspector of police, who raided the gambling den. Following this, a departmental enquiry was ordered into the incident.
Based on a tip-off that the cockfight was being organised at Vijayanagar Colony, a police team from Eepurupalem led by SI V Sudhakar raided the place at around 7.30 pm. The punters who got wind of the raid fled the place.
Pursued by police, the punters ran helter-skelter and two of them jumped into the canal. It was only late in the night that some locals contacted the police and expressed suspicion that two of the punters might have drowned in the canal. They immediately launched a search operation in the water and abandoned it late in the night.
The expert swimmers engaged by police on Wednesday morning fished out the bodies Chote Irmiah alias Madhu and Manupati Srinivasa Rao. Blaming the police for the death of the youths, the relatives of the victims staged a protest demanding action against the Eepurupalem SI. Police officials assured action against the SI if found guilty and convinced the families to withdraw the protest.
Meanwhile, Prakasam SP Siddhartha Kaushal ordered an inquiry into the incident. Chirala Two Town CI Md Feroze will investigate the case. Darsi sub-divisional police officer K Prakasa Rao has been appointed as the inquiry officer. “After receiving the inquiry report, we will take a decision on further course of action regarding this incident,” Kaushal said.