Accused in rape bid on minor case ends life
Narayan Rao reportedly jumped into Komaticheruvu lake near Tuni while being taken to court
Tuni (Kakinada district): T Narayan Rao, who was accused of attempting rape on a minor girl, committed suicide by jumping into a lake while he was being taken to court by police.
The police recovered the body of Narayan Rao from Komaticheruvu lake on the outskirts of Tuni town on Thursday morning.
The accused was being taken to be produced before a magistrate. On the way, the accused requested the police to stop the vehicle to attend the nature’s call.
According to police, he allegedly jumped into the lake and drowned. Police could not recover his body on Wednesday night due to the darkness. The search operation resumed Thursday morning, and the expert swimmers pulled out the body. Tension prevailed near the lake as Narayan Rao’s family tried to stop the police from shifting the body for post-mortem examination. The family disputed the claim that he died by suicide and alleged that he was murdered. The family members alleged that they were not provided with information about the incident. Rao was arrested for the alleged attempt to sexually assault a minor girl at the Jagannadhagiri Gurukulam, a residential school.
The 62-year-old had allegedly had taken away a 13-year-old student of Class 8 student of Gurukul school telling staff that he was her grandfather to a garden on the outskirts of Tuni, where he attempted to commit the assault on her.
On Wednesday, a video surfaced, showing a man confronting Narayana Rao, asking why he had brought the young girl to the bushes and why he had asked her to remove her clothes. Outraged villagers and the girl’s relatives confronted Rao, beat him up and handed him over to the police.
The incident had triggered widespread outrage, with the girl’s family, villagers, and Dalit community leaders staging a protest. They demanded immediate justice and the suspension of the school’s principal for negligence.
Opposition YSRCP staged protests in support of the survivor’s family. The party’s women’s wing leaders expressed solidarity with the girl’s family and demanded stringent punishment for the guilty. AP Women’s Commission and education minister Nara Lokesh expressed shock and assured severe punishment to the guilty.
