Anantapur district court on Monday (February 24) sentenced five youngsters to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹20,000 each for killing a youngster under the Narpala Police limits in April 2022.
The accused recorded the video of the attack on the victim and circulated it to send a message to the people not to meddle with them and create fear among the people. Though the main witnesses turned hostile during the trial, the accused were convicted based on scientific evidence, the police said.
Going into the details, the victim Matti Pavan Kumar and main accused Depo Shajid were from Narpala and used to be good friends. However, they parted ways over minor issues and Mr. Pavan threatened to kill Mr. Shajid and his friend Talari Sudhakar. With the differences between the duo crossing limits, Mr. Pavan Kumar’s family shifted to Anantapur town.
On April 12, 2002, Mr. Pavan Kumar along with his father Matti Srinivasulu went to Narpala to collect their monthly rice from the ration shop. Without informing his father, Mr. Pavan Kumar went to the local tehsildar office where he came across Mr. Shajid. The duo had a fight during which Mr. Pawan Kumar attacked Mr. Shajid with a knife leading to minor injury to the latter on his hand.
To take revenge, Mr. Shajid along with his friends C Ramesh, C Nagendra, Talari Sudhakar and Talari Arun, searched for Mr. Pawan Kumar and came to know that the latter was near an isolated place on the outskirts of Narpala around 10.30 p.m. The five friends reached the place and attacked Mr. Pavan Kumar with a steel rod and sticks. Sudhakar and Nagendra recorded the attack in their mobile phones to circulate the video and create a fear among others on them, the police said.
Mr. Nagendra forwarded the video of the brutal attack to Sudhakar with a text `Sudhakar ante oka brand’ (Sudhakar is a Brand) and the video went viral on social media.
As part of investigation, police seized the mobile phones of Mr. Nagendra and Mr. Sudhakar and sent them to forensic lab for analysis. The video proved as a digital evidence during trial of the case.
Anantapur District Principal Court judge G. Srinivas pronounced the five accused and convicted them to life imprisonment and to pay ₹20,000 each as fine. All the five are aged below 25 years.
Superintendent of Police P Jagadeesh commended the investigation officers, pubic prosecutor and the court police personnel for securing conviction in the case. He said the conviction in the case would be an eye opener for those who want to settle scores with others by violent means.
