Tribal found dead in lock-up

By Our Correspondent

VIZIANAGARAM. AUG. 30 Paradesi Raghuram (27), a tribal, was found dead in a lock-up of the excise police station in S. Kota in Vizianagarm district on Thursday morning.

According to police, Raghuram was arrested at 5.00 p.m. on Wednesday while he was carrying 15 litres of ID arrack at Bodduvara junction in S. Kota mandal. He was brought to the police station and detained in the lock-up. A case was registered against him around 9.00 p.m. He was found dead by the sentry in the morning.

Police alleged that Raghuram had committed suicide by hanging himself with a lungi from the hook of a ceiling fan. But, the wife of the deceased, Kondamma, alleged that a raid party had picked up her husband at Chilakalagedda in Anantagiri mandal of Visakhapatnam district around 2.00 p.m. and they found him `fine' in the lock-up at 7.00 p.m. She said that her husband might have died due to beating. However, police maintained that there were no injuries on his body.

Meanwhile, tribals in Chilakalagedda blocked the traffic on the Visakhapatnam-Araku Road for about three hours from 9.00 a.m. demanding justice, according to reports received here. The Collector, Mr. Harpreet Singh, has asked the District Revenue Officer, Mr. P. A. Krishna Rao, to investigate the matter.

In a press note issued in Hyderabad, the Minister for Prohibition & Excise, Mr. Tummala Nageswara Rao, said that Raghuram had committed suicide by hanging himself. He was acquitted in an excise case but was facing trial in two other cases.

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Section  : Southern States
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