A Village Revenue Assistant (VRA) was found murdered in the Tahsildar's office premises in Kannepalli mandal of Telangana’s Mancherial district on Monday, March 14, police said. The deceased, identified as Durgam Bapu (55), was suspected to have been murdered on Sunday night by some unidentified persons when he was in the office, they said. The staff of the Tahsildar office after noticing the VRA's body on Monday morning informed the police, Kannepalli Sub Inspector of Police G Suresh said.
The reasons for the murder are being ascertained, police said, adding that a case of murder has been registered. A police official told the media that Revenue employees would take turns to stay at the Tahsildar office overnight for security purposes. “VRA Durgam Bapu had stayed at the office overnight as part of this duty. This morning, we were informed that he was murdered and lying in a pool of blood. Family members have expressed suspicion on certain people. Based on their complaint, a case has been registered and we have formed two teams to nab them,” the official said, adding that investigation was on and evidence was being collected.
In 2019, Abdullapurmet Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) Vijaya Reddy was burnt to death at her office. The accused, K Suresh, who poured petrol on the MRO and set her on fire over a land row, also later succumbed to injuries. Vijaya’s attender Chandraiah and driver Gurunatham, who had tried to rescue her, also died due to the incident. The incident triggered protests by revenue employees across the state.
Weeks after Vijaya’s shocking death, in another MRO office in Chigurumamidi mandal of Karimnagar district, a farmer poured petrol on employees and tried to set them on fire. The farmer, Kanakaiah, alleged that he had been making repeated visits to the office for over a year requesting officials to issue a passbook for his land in his name, which the officials had refused to do owing to a dispute over the land between him and his brother.
With PTI inputs