Case filed against Congress sarpanch for assaulting ex-Army officer

Hyderabad: A case has been filed against a village sarpanch, who is a member of the Congress party, for assaulting an ex-Army officer in Telangana's Sangareddy district.

Tummala Raju, the former Army man, is employed as an assistant security officer at Bharat Dynamic Limited (BDL) at Bhanur on the outskirts of the city. According to the police, he has been working at BDL for the past two years. A few days ago, Raju had filed a disciplinary proceeding against Moinuddin, a security guard, following which the latter had been suspended.

Moinuddin had tried to persuade Raju from withdrawing the proceedings but when his efforts failed he approached the village sarpanch P. Srinivas. On Saturday, Srinivas called Raju and demanded that he withdraw the report against Moinuddin but Raju refused. Angered by his refusal, Srinivas and some of his followers assaulted Raju and threatened him with dire consequences.

Based on a complaint filed by Raju, the BDL Bhanur police have registered a case against the sarpanch and started an investigation. A statement from BDL said similar incidents had been reported earlier at BDL, Bhanur, and demanded action against the accused and also protection for its employees.

BDL, a government enterprise under the ministry of defense, was established in Hyderabad in 1970 as a manufacturing base for guided missiles and allied defense equipment. The unit at Bhanur is one of BDL's three manufacturing units. The first unit is located in Hyderabad, the second at Bhanur in Sangareddy district, and the third unit, which is dedicated exclusively to manufacture underwater weapons, is at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.