DSP Supraja in soup for Gabbar Singh act

HYDERABAD/ANANTAPUR: When deputy superintendent of police Supraja and her team gave 'counselling' to four murder accused right in front of a gathering at Guntakal in Anantapur district, little did they realise their act would attract the wrath of their higher-ups.

The 'lathi counselling', a routine affair in a police lock-up, done in public led to the young officer facing departmental action. On November 30, the people of Guntakal were surprised when police arrived in the town along with four persons.

They went to a place and made some inspection. Then they started thrashing the four with lathis, parading them on the road. The men fell at the feet of the policemen pleading not to beat them. Soon, a large number of people gathered and followed the police.

Traffic came to a standstill and the incident resembled a scene right from a Telugu movie, where the hero or the heroine playing a police officer, thrashes the goon, parading him on the road.

The gathering did not want to miss the live action and gave some work to their mobile phones, recording the action sequence. Within minutes, DSP Supraja joined the 'counselling'. The accused were made to kneel in the middle of the road and thrashed.

Some called the DSP Kartavyam Vijayashanti and raised 'Police Zindabad' slogans. Still not content, the police also gave a chance to the family members of the murdered person to thrash the four accused. 'This will instil fear in culprits,' a police officer said.

Reacting to the incident, DGP B Prasada Rao said he would initiate departmental action against the DSP and other policemen involved in the incident. 'We have asked the Anantapur Range DIG to submit a report,' he said.

The Murder

Police said the four persons are accused in a murder at Guntakal on November 28. They are: Sekhar, Hussain, Gopi and Peddanna.

Sekhar fell in love with Sharada and married her some days ago. Though they married without the consent of Sharada's parents, her father, Mallanna (55) later accepted the marriage and even gave `3 lakh to Sekhar.

For the last few days, Sekhar was harassing Sharada after coming home in a drunken state. Mallanna took away his daughter and later approached Supraja who summoned Sekhar to the police station and counselled him to stop harassing his wife. Mallanna told Sekhar that he would send Sharada with him only after he changed his ways in one month.

Angered over this, Sekhar and his friends attacked Mallanna with sickles on the night of November 28. The police nabbed all the accused within two days and took up the 'counselling' on the road.