Khammam: Cases under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 were registered against Sattupalli TD MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah and 10 others for their alleged role in the ransacking of the Khammam market yard on Friday. The MLA was named A-2 in the case. Mandepudi Anand Rao, a farmer from Chirumarri has been named A-1, the prime accused. All of the accused are marginal farmers and hail from ST or SC communities. All of the accused, except the MLA, were arrested.
Cases under Sections 147, 148, 353, 427, 448, 120 (B), read with 149 of the IPC, and Sections 3 and 4 of PDPP Act, 1984 were booked against them, based on a complaint by deputy secretary of the market committee. All the accused, except the MLA were arrested and remanded in the case. The arrested farmers are from Tirumalayapalem, Kamepalli, Nelakondapalli, Mudigonda, Enkoor and Kallur mandals and Mahbubabad district. The complaint said that the farmers damaged property worth Rs 40 lakh of the market. Mr Veeraiah said, “The farmers were getting increasingly desperate due to absence of trading of chilli over the last 20 days. Trading activity took place only on two days in the present week and the farmers were irked over this.”
The MLA said that instead of resolving the issue, the government was suppressing the farmers and the Opposition by filing cases against them. “The government has been targeting me for the last one year and try to implicate me in false cases. It has now seized the market yard incident as an opportunity and filed cases against me. I will fight the government in court,” he said. Meanwhile, Congress senior leaders, led by K. Jana Reddy and Bhatti Mallu Vikramarka, visited the residence of Ananda Rao at Chirumarri under Mudigonda mandal, who is A-1 in the case.
