Eve-teasers kill brother

• 3 drunken youth accost brother and sister and misbehave with the girl
• They attack the brother following arguments
• They threaten the girl not to complain to the police
• Afraid, she told the police it was a road accident
• Brother dies in hospital after which she tells the truth to policeA
• Police refuse to change the case from accident to murder
• Villagers lay siege to police station demanding the accused's arrest for murder
• Sub- Collector intervenes, personally takes up the case

D Gopi Kankipadu (Krishna): Even as the heinous incident of Tenali in Guntur district where a mother was killed by a drunken youth is afresh, a similar incident was repeated in a small town in Krishna district, just 30km from Vijayawada city. A 24-year-old youth was killed by the drunken youth when he attempted to save his sister from them. Though the incident occurred on April 19, it came to light on Wednesday with the youth succumbing to the injuries caused in the incident. The angry parents and relatives of the youth held protest at the police station here seeking action against the culprits. It all happened on April 19 night when Devarapalli Ravi Teja was returning home after attending a prayer service in Giripuram area in Vijayawada along with his sister, Devarapalli Swapna. They boarded a late night city service and got down at Kankipadu at 11.30pm. As there were no vehicles they started to walk to reach home at Punadipadu, one-and-a-half km away from the Kankipadu bus station. When they crossed a bar and restaurant situated on the road between Kankipadu and Punadipadu three drunken youth, Goddalla Ramprasad, Goddalla Venkanna and Vemula Venkateswara Rao, reached them and started to misbehave with Swapna. Angry at the incident, Ravi protested and retaliated, when the miscreants fled from the scene.

However, the three returned on a motor cycle and hit Ravi from behind. As Ravi fell on the road, the three got down from the motor cycle and beat him up causing bleeding injuries. They also allegedly threatened Swapna of killing all family members if she revealed the facts to the police. Scared by the threats, she informed the police that it was an accident and shifted the bleeding Ravi to a private hospital in Vijayawada. The young girl did not tell the fact to anyone including her parents until the doctors who were attending on Ravi declared that he had succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday evening. Shocked at the death of the brother, Swapna narrated the story of the three drunken youth attacking them. The angry parents and relatives rushed to the Kankipadu police station and held a protest. In no time the leaders of various Dalit and mass organisations reached the police station in support of the agitating parents and relatives. They demanded that the police change the case from accident to murder and arrest the accused. They also demanded that the police book cases under Nirbhaya Act and SC, ST (prevention of atrocities) Act of 1989 as the victim belonged to the Scheduled Castes. However, the police delayed converting the case leading to tension in the town. On Thursday morning, hundreds of Dalits and women activists from the district reached Kankipadu police station and raised slogans against the police and the ruling party leaders. The relatives of Ravi alleged that the three accused were supporters of the Minister for Secondary Education, K P Saradhi, and it was for this reason the police were not booking the case against them. They demanded that the three youth be arrested immediately and sections of the Nirbhaya and SC,ST Acts be applied to them. The sub-collector, D Harichandana, who visited the police station, promised that she would personally take up the issue and monitor the enquiry. She promised to do justice for the victim's family and ensure that the culprits were punished under the law. She further said that she would also look into the case and make changes as demanded by the relatives and agitators. It was only then, they withdrew the agitation. Deputy commissioner of police Ravi Prakash announced that the assistant commissioner of police Shakila Begum would conduct inquiry into the crime. The Gannavaram Inspector G Rathna Raju and a number of police officials monitored the security as the Dalits and mass organisations held the protest. The Kula Vivaksha Vyatireka Porata Samithi leader A Nageswara Rao, YSR Congress leaders P Suresh Babu and Tadi Sakunthala, leaders of various Dalit and civil rights organisations led the protest.