Orgy of violence in Guntur village

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, AUG. 19. In a case of factional violence, one person, Ammisetty Srihari (25), belonging to the CPI(M), was hacked to death by his rival faction, allegedly led by Mr. Amara Vasantha Kumar of the CPI, at Kunchanapalli village of Tadepalli mandal in Guntur district on Sunday.

Enraged by the killing, supporters of the CPI(M) ran riot and unleashed a reign of terror in the village. They hurled bombs at the police picket and set ablaze over 10 houses. Police opened over 30 rounds of fire in the air to quell the mob.

According to the Superintendent of Police, Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, the killing was a result of a simmering faction feud. One Amara Sambaiah of the CPI was killed in 1997. Srihari was one of the accused in Sambaiah's murder case. Srihari was attacked in a small street in the village around 3.00 p.m. on Sunday. He was killed on the spot.

The CPI group, which had been wreaking vengeance against the rival faction, attacked Srihari's brother, Ravi, his father, Venkateswarlu, and another person with bombs in June this year at the village when the trio were proceeding to Vijayawada on a scooter. However, all the three escaped with minor injuries.

Following this, the district police authorities set up a police picket in the village. The SP organised a `mythri sadassu' on the eve of the elections to mandal parishad and zilla parishad territorial constituencies.

As the news of Srihari's killing spread, supporters of the CPI(M), in scores of numbers, came running onto the streets and unleashed a reign of terror. Women supporters were found to be more aggressive. CPI(M) supporters turned their ire at the police and hurled bombs at the police picket. A constable, Sambasiva Rao, was injured in the attack. He was rushed to hospital. At one stage, the women chased the constables. The women thrashed two constables, Md. Nooruddin and Mr. Siva Kumar.

Later, they attacked the houses of CPI supporters. They set on fire at least 10 houses. The mob ransacked over half- a-dozen houses and allegedly resorted to looting. The furious women attacked the cameraman of SitiCable and smashed the video camera.

In another incident, a Congress sympathiser was killed when the bombs which he was carrying went off at Uppalapadu village of Narasaraopet rural police station limits on Sunday.

Giving details of the incident, the SP said that two persons - Talluri Ramana Reddy (34) and P. Mallikarjuna Reddy (20) - were carrying country-made bombs from Rangareddypalem village to Uppalapadu in the wee hours of Sunday. Suddenly, the motorcycle slipped into a ditch on the outskirts of Uppalapadu village. It is suspected that the duo, who were proceeding to Uppalapadu village, got confused and turned the motorcycle on seeing the SI of Narasaraopet rural, Mr. Srinivasa Rao. As soon as the motorcycle fell into the ditch, the bombs went off.

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Section  : Southern States
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