In Andhra Pradesh, hand chopped off for cigarette, throat slit for tea

Vijayawada: In an outburst of anger, two people were allegedly attacked over tea and beedi, in different villages of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning. While one person's hand was chopped off for not offering money for cigarettes and pan-masala at Agiripalli village, another tea shop owner's throat was slit for not giving tea on time at Annavaram village of Nuzvid mandal.

In Agiripalli, the 50-year-old victim, K Musalayya, who is a daily wager was puffing beedi at a shop in the village before leaving for work. Meanwhile, the accused Avutapalli Jogi, 30 approached Musalayya asking the latter to lend him money to buy cigarettes and other things. As Musalayya refused a brief tussle occurred between them after which Jogi picked up a sickle near by and threw at Musalayya.

In an unsuccessful attempt to dodge the attack, the victim’s hand was chopped off. "Jogi is well-known to Musalayya and the latter used to lend money for beedis and cigarettes now and then. Two days ago, Musalayya refused to lend Jogi Rs 2000 after which Jogi threatened to kill him," Agiripalli sub-inspector Mr V Rajendra Prasad told DC.

Following the incident, Musalayya was immediately rushed to hospital in Vijayawada for treatment. Both Jogi and Musalayya belong to same area in the village and work as daily labourers, the SI said.  Jogi was caught and beaten up by locals and was handed over to police.

In a similar incident in Annavaram village, a customer attacked a 30-year-old tea vendor, SK Baaji, after he refused to serve tea. "Baaji as usual was running his tea stall in the main centre of Annavaram village in the morning. A regular customer E Mallaiah, 48 came to the shop and asked Baaji to serve tea and said he would pay later. Baaji who first offers tea to his wife daily did the same and then offered to other customers who came after Mallaiah. Angered over Baaji's alleged mistreatment, Mallaiah broke the glass cupboard in the shop with a stone and took a piece of it to threaten Baaji but ended up slitting his throat", said Nuzvid rural sub-inspector Mr Ch Naga Prasad.

Baaji, who was rushed to Nuzvid hospital, is still critical. Meanwhile, Mallaiah was nabbed by police.