Joint Action Committee of Dalit Organisations gheraoed A.P. Women’s Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma and Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy when they visited, along with Superintendent of Police B. Sathya Yesu Babu, the house of murdered SBI employee Snehalatha, whose body was kept outside on the street, on Thursday. The protesters demanded immediate suspension of I Town circle inspector Prathap Reddy for his alleged comments on Snehalatha and revealing her phone messages and calls and other details.
The protesters did not allow them to board their vehicles, which led to a tense situation. They kept on raising slogans demanding action against the police for alleged inaction, claiming that “otherwise, the girl would have been alive now”.
“We are aghast at the claim of the police that they had acted with alacrity and solved the murder mystery, when in fact they did not act on time and allowed the crime to happen. Snehalatha’s life could have been saved,” said Dalit leaders.
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‘Disha police failed me’
“The much-publicised Disha App and police personnel failed us,” alleged Snehalatha’s mother M. Lakshmi Devi, talking to TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu over the phone in front of mediapersons here.
“I approached the police on Monday night, but they did not take any complaint and wanted me to come to the police station the next morning and lodge a complaint. I dialed the Disha App and the person who received the call, asked me from which State are you calling and go and lodge a complaint in your police station,” said Ms. Lakshmi Devi.
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“This boy Gutti Rajesh (the accused, a masonry worker) had been harassing my daughter for the past one year, I had told the police about it. When I approached the I Town police in the night they said it was a love affair and she would come back. If it was a love affair, why would that boy kill my daughter?” she questioned. “He used to drink and come to our house when my husband, working as a driver, was away,” she alleged.