Land row sparks attack by Banjaras on cops

​Shivampet(Medak): In a daring incident, residents of a hamlet attacked policemen with sticks and stones, injuring a Circle Inspector, an ASI and four constables in Medak district.

This happened around 2 am on Tuesday when around 16 policemen from Shivampet, Thoopran and Veldurthi police stations went to Tallapalligadda thanda in Shivampet mandal, having received complaint from a person that the Banjaras (STs) of the hamlet were demolishing the compound wall he had constructed around the land which he had purchased in the hamlet.

The land has been in dispute for the past few years. A few years ago, a person bought 55 acres of land in that hamlet from a group of Banjaras.

The land went into dispute later, as the children of the Banjaras claimed that the land was sold without their knowledge and was therefore an illegal land sale transaction which couldn’t stand in the court of law. They kept creating problems on the site and the land ownership changed hands four times as the buyers kept selling the disputed land, unable to bear the resistance from the Banjaras.

The Banjaras were also apprehended a few times by the police in the past few years and cases were also booked against them.

However, the Banjaras refused to budge. Most recently, the land was purchased by one Praveen, a resident of Hyderabad. Praveen, on Monday, went to the village and warned them of dire consequences if they tried to demolish the compound wall he was building.

However, the adamant Banjaras, began demolishing the wall clandestinely on Monday night. When the policemen went there after receiving a complaint from Praveen and his men, the drunken villagers were well prepared for a
guerrilla fight.

As the policemen arrived at the scene without any weapons, the guerrillas ambushed and attacked them in filmy-style with stones and sticks, severely injuring Thupran CI Ramesh Babu, Veldurthi ASI Shiva Kumar, head constable Pandari and a few other constables.

All the policemen were sent to KIMS hospital for treatment. Three police vehicles were damaged in the attack. Interestingly, none of the villagers were shown as arrested by the police until Tuesday afternoon.