Date:14/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101456170100.htm

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Fear grips villagers of Vatoli

S. Harpal Singh

Alleged threat to burn the village giving them nightmares

PHOTO: AFP

FOR CLUES AND PROOF: A forensic expert gathers samples on Monday from the house where six members of a family were burnt to death at Vatoli near Bhainsa in Adilabad district.

VATOLI (ADILABAD DT.): Fear now stalks the lanes and bylanes of Vatoli, the small village where the gruesome incident of six persons being burnt alive had taken place on Sunday. The drawn faces of villagers indicated that they had not slept the previous night for reasons of perceived threat to their lives.

By Monday morning, almost all the families in the village who could afford it sent their womenfolk to some other place fearing for their security while men kept away from farm work. “We will not go to the fields unless we feel safe,” M. Sambhaji, a village elder, says. The fear factor was in the wake of the threat to burn down the village allegedly made by some unknown outsiders on Sunday evening. “These persons had appeared in the village when bodies of the victims were being taken away for funeral,” says G. Ramakrishna Goud.

“We packed off our women to safer places. All of us either patrolled the streets or stayed together the entire night. Even after day-break, it seems safer being together,” Manyatta, ex-sarpanch of Vatoli, says.

A haggard looking Pentaji Patel, another elder from this village, could not believe that things had come to such a pass in the peaceful village. “We are clueless about the identity of the persons or the reasons for such a gory incident in our village. There seems to be no rationale whatsoever for anyone threatening our lives,” he observes. Meanwhile, the villagers have urged the authorities to increase the number of security personnel posted in the village and take up regular patrols. Vatoli is about one km off the Bhainsa-Nirmal road and villagers feel that this road needs to be patrolled quite often, especially during the night.

Patrolling

“We have formed patrols comprising 30 villagers to keep a strict vigil during the night. However, it would help if the police increased patrolling too,” adds Jogdande Gangadhar Patel who had kept repeating this appeal to the VIPs who visited Vatoli during the day. A regular stream of political leaders, including Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu visited the village and condemned the murders.