MEDAK : A case of alleged custodial harassment has come to light in Medak mandal after a man died by suicide on Sunday night, with his relatives alleging that repeated summons and physical assault by forest officials over a monitor lizard hunting case drove him to the extreme step.
According to his relatives, forest officials had summoned Pochaiah of Pathur village and his father to their office for three consecutive days and assaulted them. They said a case had been registered against the duo four days ago for allegedly hunting a monitor lizard in a forest area.
Pochaiah’s father alleged that instead of following due legal procedure, forest officials repeatedly called them to the office and severely beat them.
Unable to bear the harassment, Pochaiah died by suicide at his home on Sunday night, his relatives claimed.
Following his death, relatives and villagers staged a protest outside the forest office on Monday, demanding action against the officials allegedly responsible. They submitted complaints to forest officials and the local police.
Medak Forest Officer M Joji said the details of the complaint had been forwarded to higher authorities and that an inquiry was under way.
Medak Rural police registered a case and shifted the body to Medak Government Hospital for postmortem.
