CHITTOOR: The suspicious death of a 33-year-old man at Ellapalle village in Gangadhara Nellore mandal of Chittoor district has triggered a controversy. TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh has blamed the sand mafia for the ‘murder’. The deceased, identified as A Kishan (33), was one among the villagers who opposed sand mining in the Anantapuram sand reach near Ellapalle.
On August 18, Kishan was found drowned in a pit, which was formed due to sand mining in the reach, along the Neeva river bed. NR Peta police registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC (a person has committed suicide, or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident).
NR Peta ASI M Ramesh said the kin of the deceased lodged a police complaint, alleging that it was a murder. “We registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC. We are waiting for the postmortem report. If it was found to be a murder, we will alter the case and further investigate it.”The ASI said the family members of the deceased did not name any individual in their complaint. He said sand mining in the village was legally permitted, but the villagers were opposing it.
Meanwhile, Raghu, a farmer from Ellapalle, held sand mafia responsible for the ‘murder’ of Kishan. “We have asked the operators several times to stop mining in the reach as it was impacting our borewells. Despite our repeated requests, the Tahsildar did not take any action against them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lokesh alleged that the sand mafia had been taking the lives of innocent people. “The YSRC government tonsured a Dalit youth Varaprasad for obstructing sand smuggling. Now, the locals and family members of Kishan are alleging that he was killed by the sand mafia for protesting against sand mining,” Lokesh tweeted. The MLC demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.