Hyderabad: B. Kasaiah, aged nearly 60 years, a farmer from Narayanpur village in Yadadri Bhongir district, attempted to kill himself by consuming pesticide at his agricultural land in protest against alleged police harassment. He was admitted to a private hospital at Hayathnagar on the city outskirts for treatment.
Police claimed that Kasaiah took the drastic action to intimidate and preventing the police from detaining and binding him over for his involvement in three cases of damaging the property belonging to another farmer.
On Tuesday morning, a team of Narayanpur police wanted to bind-over Kasaiah of Janagam village for allegedly damaging the property of Narender Reddy, another farmer. When the police went to bind him over in the presence of the revenue officials, Kasaiah ran to his agricultural field and consumed pesticide. The other farmers noticed his action and rushed him to a private hospital at Hayathnagar for treatment.
Meanwhile, reports said Kasaiah has alleged harassment and repeated threats by the police. B. Bakkaiah, younger cousin of Kasaiah, said, “There was a dispute between us and Narender Reddy over land. Revenue officials sorted it out by conducting a survey and installed boundaries. Though we abided by their decision, Narender Reddy has lodged complaints against us, and the police have booked cases and harass us.”
“Twice, they have before taken Kasaiah to police station. The police personnel have been threatening us to sell land to Narender. We also gave four complaints, met senior officials, but the Narayanpur police is threatening us. My brother was upset with it and wanted to end his agony by killing himself,” Mr Bakkaiah said.
When contacted about the incident, Choutuppal ACP P. Sathaiah, said that the agricultural land of Kasaiah and Narender were adjacent to each other. “Narender complained about damage to his fields by Kasaiah and seven others. Three cases were registered against them. Today (Tuesday) when the police went to bind over Kasaiah, he threatened the police and consumed pesticide,” the ACP said.
The condition of Kasaiah is stable and an enquiry is on about the various allegations, the ACP added.
