The Anantapur police on Thursday arrested two accused in the murder of SBI Credit Cards outsourced employee Snehalatha and confiscated a motorcycle used during the crime along with four cell phones.
There was a huge turnout of general public and Dalit groups at the house of Snehalatha to pay respects to the mortal remains. They poured out anger against the police for their lack of immediate action on the frantic calls to Disha App and Dial 100 by the victim’s mother.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the parents of the victim in addition to the relief of ₹8.25 lakh, five acres of agricultural land, a house, a government job for one in the family and provisions for three months as per G.O. 95, Collector Gandham Chandrudu said.
POCSO Act case
At a press conference along with Dharmavaram Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Ramakanth, Superintendent of Police B. Satya Yesu Babu said that Gutti Rajesh, 23, and his friend Sake Karthik, 28, were arrested based on the call records and CCTV footages in Dharmavaram and Anantapur.
The victim had called the accused first after a gap of 25 days on December 22. While she was coming along with Rajesh on his bike to Anantapur, he throttled her to death suspecting her fidelity.
“The accused was in a sexual relationship with the girl for the past four years even while she was a minor. Hence a case under POCSO Act will be registered against Rajesh, while Karthik had abetted the crime by advising his friend to get rid of the girl and was closely interacting with Rajesh before and after the crime,” Mr. Yesu Babu observed.
Protest
Meanwhile, A.P. Women’s Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma, along with Anantapur MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy visited the house and promised all help from the government, but they were gheraoed by Dalit activists who demanded immediate action against the police personnel responsible for the delay in action, which, according to them, led to the crime taking place. “The mindset of boys needs to be changed as they have been taking women for granted and resorting to all kinds of atrocities, be it a college girl or a married woman,” Ms. Padma said.
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