BC Farmer Kotaiah Death: Villagers Pick Holes In Police Version

Vijayawada: The tragic death of Koteswara Rao, the farmer from Yadlapadu mandal of Guntur district, has angered villagers who are squarely blaming the police and Andhra Pradesh government. The incident has now spiralled into a major controversy with villagers pointing fingers at the police on several aspects related to the case.

Police are being blamed for forcibly occupying the poor farmer's land to facilitate the chief minister's chopper landing, destroying Kotaiah's Papaya plantation and thrashing him for questioning them! Added to these facts is the manner in which police behaved at the end of the unfortunate incident, villagers said, seething with anger. They are furious with Guntur SP, Rajasekhar Babu's version that Kotaiah committed suicide well before the AP chief minister toured the area.

The Guntur SP's statement that cops carried Kotaiah to the hospital on their shoulders is untrue villagers pointed out and took serious objection to the SP's version. What he stated was only partially true, they said, pointing out that the policemen carried Kotaiah only till the first check post. After they abandoned the hapless farmer there, the local villagers carried him to the second checkpost, they said. Why did farmers have to carry Kotaiah if policemen had in truth borne him on their shoulders?, they questioned.

Villagers questioned as to how a pesticide which was never there on Kotaiah's farm appeared there? If the suicide version by touted by the SP and his men is true, villagers asked--why did they not rush him to the hospital immediately? Local villagers also wanted to know how Kotaiah's face sustained injuries. The villagers rushed the poor farmer to the hospital, carrying him on their shoulders, but were told by the doctors that he was no more, they lamented. They sat on a protest on the highway with Kotaiah's body, but were driven away by the police who said that the chief minister was due to pass by that road.

YSRCP Fact-finding Team To Visit Kondaveedu On Wednesday

On the directions of party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's orders, a fact-finding team from the YSR Congress Party headed by Leader of Opposition in AP legislative Council, Ummareddy Venkateswarulu will visit Kondaveedu on Wednesday to probe the tragic death of Kotaiah, a farmer from a BC community who was reportedly thrashed severely by the local police, following which he succumbed to the injuries. Others in the fact-finding team include five YSRCP MLAs from Guntur district, Mustafa, Gopireddy Srinivasa Reddy, Kona Raghupati, Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy and Alla Ramakrishna Reddy. Others include senior leaders, Botsa Satyanarayana, Parthasarathi, Kodali Nani, Marri Rajasekhar, Janga Krishnamurthy, Mopadevi Venkataramana, Meruga Nagarjuna and others. YS Jagan directed the YSR Congress party leaders and workers to stand in solidarity with the deceased farmer's family.

Also Read:You Are Responsible For This Farmer’s Death: YS Jagan To Chandrababu