A 38-year-old man was allegedly run over by a sand lorry driver in the early hours of Thursday in Thirumalapur village, Rajapur mandal, Mahabubnagar. The victim was identified as K Narasimhulu. Initially, Narasimhulu’s relatives protested that he was killed by the ‘sand mafia’ for resisting their illegal exploitation. The incident took place at around 12 am, said police.
According to the kin of the victim, for the past two years, their borewells in the farms had dried up due to sand exploitation from the village’s water stream. “Two days ago, we told those who were plundering the sand to abstain from the activity. But yet they continued the exploitation, yesterday my brother confronted the vehicle driver but he argued with him and ran over him,” alleged Yadagiri, who is a resident of the same village.
After allegedly mowing down Narasimhulu, the vehicle went to the water stream and loaded the sand. When locals found out that Narasimhulu had died, they thrashed the driver, Raju, and detained him before handing him over to the police.
Yadagiri alleged that illegal sand exploitation was taking place regularly and the officials turned a blind-eye. He alleged that two years ago, too, another villager was killed in the same manner.
The relatives protested for several hours not allowing the police to away Nasimhulu’s mortal remains. However, hours later, the family members changed their version and said that the death was an accident.
“Narasimhulu who was drunk, slept on the 100-feet road leading to the water stream. The driver who did not notice that a man was sleeping on the road ran over him,” Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mahabubnagar Sridhar told TNM.
“This is an accident case. The driver who has been taken into custody and the deceased are from the same village. The sand mining has been happening with the full cooperation of the villagers. The family created a scene making wild claims about ‘mafia’ etc. for compensation from the lorry driver. Now, after reaching a compromise, they gave a complaint stating that it was an accident.”
The DSP alleged that the villagers regularly extort money from lorry drivers for remaining silent about the illegal activity. Police have shifted the body to Jadcherla government hospital for autopsy and initiated an inquiry. Meanwhile, the lorry driver, Ravi, has been taken into custody.