HYDERABAD: A farmer from Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district reportedly attempted suicide on Tuesday over alleged harassment by a team of officers from Narayanapur police station under the Rachakonda commissionerate. The farmer Bachanaboini Kashaiah, 59, consumed pesticide in his agricultural field. He was rushed to a private hospital in Hyderabad.
Narayanpur police, meanwhile, brushed off the allegations stating that Kashaiah was the prime accused in three criminal trespass cases, and as a part of their inquiry, a police team had visited him on Tuesday.
Sub-Inspector D Nagaraju of Narayanapur police station said that on account of the series of cases registered against him, the police were instructed to present Kashaiah before the tahsildar. “When the police team went to pick him up, he threatened to commit suicide and began blackmailing the officers. Following this, the team returned. He misbehaved with the men and tried to manhandle them. There are eye witnesses to the incident,” he said.
Kashaiah’s relatives said that they own a 17-acre land in Areguda village. A man named Narender Reddy owns around 24 acres of land beside theirs. They claimed that Narender Reddy had encroached their land and was trying to take ownership of it with the help of the police. As they did not give into his demands, he instigated police to register false cases against the family.
“We have owned the land for more than two decades. Narender Reddy also owns a land beside ours, but he is trying to encroach into our land. In fact, revenue officials have falsely demarcated our lands. We have been asking Reddy to get it corrected. We told the same to the police as well, but they are on his side,” said Kashaiah’s relative B Bakkaiah.
His family further claimed that previously too the police had taken Kashaiah to the station and beaten him up badly, due to which he was scared to go with them again, be it for any matter.
Reportedly, on Tuesday morning, at around 10.30, when Kashaih was ploughing in the field, five policemen walked up to him and asked him to go with them. When he refused, they used ropes to overpower him. He, however, escaped and ran for help. Later, he consumed pesticide. He was rushed to a private hospital in the city, where he is being kept under observation.
Narayanpur police station was ranked 14th among the top 100 police stations in India in the year 2017.
