Visakhapatnam: Row over garbage leads to murder

Visakhapatnam: A petty row over dumping garbage took a drastic turn leading to the murder of a man at Ravulammapalem area under Sabbavaram police station limits in Vizag district on Thursday night. Four members of a family who barged into their neighbour Lalam Srinivasa Rao’s house to raise objection to dumping garbage in front of their house attacked him and beat him to death with stones in front of his family.

Srinivasa Rao, 40, an operator of the earth-mover machine (proclainer) by profession, had come to Sabbavaram region in search of livelihood. He shared an open space in front of his house with his neighbour Lenka Appala Naidu. Inspector of Anakapalle Rural Police Station K. Ramachandra Rao said that their investigation has revealed that there were petty issues over drainage and dumping of waste. The two families were reportedly involved in several arguments about the issue earlier. Despite warnings from Appala Naidu and his family, Srinivasa Rao continued to throw the garbage in front of Naidu’s house.

On Thursday evening, angry with the attitude of Rao, Appala Naidu, his wife Varalakshmi, son Appa Rao and daughter-in-law Chinnamulu went to Srinivasa Rao’s house and engaged in heated argument with him over the issue. In a fit of rage, Appala Naidu and his family members beat up Rao with a stone in the course of which he died. Rao and his family members fled from the spot. Based on the information given by locals, police, led by Inspector K. Ramachandra Rao, rushed to the spot.

“We registered a case against the four members of the family and the accused were taken into custody,” he added. Locals from the area expressed dismay over the incident and said that they had never heard such an incident happening over such a petty issue. “We had requested the two families to sort out the issue through negotiation and discussion. They ignored our advise. The issue has now claimed the life of a bread winner of a family,” said G. Ramesh, a resident of the locality.