Farmer from Medak live-streams bid to end life, cops foil it

HYDERABAD: A 43-old farmer took a selfie video of himself attempting to die by suicide after the village sarpanch and forest department officials took over the Podu land he was cultivating in Devulapalli under Kowdipally police limits of Medak district.

The video found its way to the social media where it was widely shared. Police stopped the farmer, Jinka Srisailam, in time and took him to a hospital.

Srisailam said in the video that his parents had been cultivating five acres of podu land in Viswanadhapalli for the past few decades. After his parents, he took over the land and started cultivating paddy.

"Forest department officials and the sarpanch visited the place and levelled the land with JCBs. My mother is an illiterate and was unable to get patta from the government," he said.

Srisailam took a selfie video holding the pesticide bottle. He alleged that some persons had occupied his five acres and he was not able to bear the harassment of forest department officials.

Kowdipally ASI Vittal said that they have thwarted Srisailam's attempt and shifted him to a nearby hospital. His condition is stable.

"The land belongs to the forest department and Srisailam has occupied it. When forest officials tried to plant saplings, he threatened to commit suicide," the ASI said.

A case was registered against Srisailam, who, in 2014, had attempted suicide at Pragati Bhavan in Hyderabad seeking an Assembly ticket for his uncle in Medak district.