HYDERABAD: The Motor Vehicles Accidents Tribunal, Nagarkurnool, has directed the state DGP, the Nagarkurnool Collector, the district SP and two other respondents to jointly pay Rs 21.92 lakh as compensation to the family of a man who died in a road accident allegedly involving a police jeep more than a decade ago.
The order was passed by the Motor Vehicles Accidents Tribunal in February 2026, nearly 15 years after the death of Dodla Alwal Reddy (45), a farmer from Gouthampally.
According to the claim petition, Alwal Reddy was on his way to Nagarkurnool on his motorcycle in September 2011. When he reached Kollapur X Road, a police Commander jeep, driven by Katravath Gopiya Naik allegedly at high speed in a rash and negligent manner, hit his bike. He suffered severe injuries and died while undergoing treatment.
The Nagarkurnool SP, in a counter, denied the accident itself.
The counter claimed that no police vehicle was involved and alleged that the deceased lost control of his motorcycle due to his own rash driving, fell on the road and sustained fatal injuries. It further stated that a false complaint was lodged two days later by the deceased’s cousin, D Madhava Reddy, leading to the registration of a case under Section 304A of the IPC.
Following trial, the police jeep driver was acquitted by the First Class Magistrate, Nagarkurnool, in September 2022. The magistrate noted that all witnesses, including the deceased’s cousin and complainant, turned hostile.
Cops took my sign on blank sheets: Complainant
The complainant told the court that police had taken his signatures on blank papers about 10 years earlier and that he was unaware of their contents. The court held that there was no substantial evidence to prove the driver’s guilt.
The judgment noted that even the APP sought permission to declare prosecution witnesses 2 to 6 hostile.
However, the Tribunal took a different view in the compensation proceedings. It observed that the filing of a chargesheet against the driver and the exhibits produced by the claimants showed that the driver had faced formal accusation. The Tribunal held that the occurrence of the incident resulting in Alwal Reddy’s death was not in dispute, despite the criminal court acquittal.
The compensation has been awarded to Alwal Reddy’s wife, D Laxmidevamma (54), daughter D Anuradha (36), and son D Raghavendar Reddy (34).
The family filed the claim petition in 2023, more than a decade after the death, following the conclusion of the criminal case.