Man beaten to death by farmers for committing offences at farmlands

HYDERABAD: Farmers beat a 39-year-old Dalit man to death at Gummadidala in Sangareddy district on Sunday, after accusing him of taking away electrical wires from agricultural fields.

The victim was identified as M. Mallesham, a local resident who was married and had two children. Despite a complaint from the victim’s wife, the police has made no arrests.

According to police, an unidentified person was stealing electrical wires and motor pump sets from farmlands for the past few months. Farmers took the issue to the notice of the local police and sought patrolling.

They also set up their own vigil. On Saturay night, at about 1 am, the farmers caught Mallesh, accused him of stealing their electrical wires and brutally assaulted him.

Gummadidala sub-inspector Krishna Chaitanya said that farmers beat up Mallesham and took him to the farmers’ association office in Gummadidala where farmers thrashed him mercilessly.

Mallesham collapsed on the ground immediately. On being informed, local police rushed to the spot and found him dead.

Mallesham's wife Meena approached the police seeking action against all farmers who had killed her husband. He should have been handed over to the police, she said. In her complaint, Meena said that her husband was murdered by the farmers on the pretext of being an offender and brutally assaulted.
Based on her complaint, police registered murder and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act cases against the farmers for killing Mallesham.