TUMAKURU: In a gruesome incident, two Dalit youths were tortured and bludgeoned to death by caste Hindu men in Peddanahalli village.
The deceased have been identified as Girish Mudalagiriappa (30) of Tumakuru and Girish (32) of Manchaladore village.
The disfigured body of Girish Mudalagiriappa was found on a farm while that of Girish was found afloat in a pond on the outskirts of the village.
On Thursday night, the villagers were celebrating a local temple festival when one of the key accused in the case Nandish went to the house of Girish and managed to convince them to accompany him. He took the youths to a secluded place where he had his friends (more than two) waiting for them.
Soon the assailants started torturing the Dalit youths by burning their legs with dry leaves of the coconut tree so as to make it impossible for them to flee.
Later, they picked up clubs and beat them black and blue. Girish Mudalagiriappa died on the spot. Girish made a vain attempt to escape before he was bludgeoned to death. The assailants push his body into a pond, according to sources.
A pall of gloom descended on the village following the brutal murders.
The reason for the attack is not immediately known. The Dalit youths had a case each registered against them by the police in connection with stealing a motorbike and areca nut respectively in the region.
The incident occurred at the home district of Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister J C Madhuswamy for which the Home Minister Araga Jnanendra is the district in-charge minister.
Superintendent of police Rahulkumar Shahapurwad told TNIE that all the accused will be arrested soon and there is a possibility of a large number of them being involved in the crime.
A team has been formed under DySP to trace the accused. Meanwhile, the Dalit organisations appealed to the SP to take stringent action against the accused. Gubbi police have registered a case against the accused on various charges and taken up an investigation.