Rejected by girl, soldier opens fire at her mother

Vijayawada: It was the proverbial escape for a woman who sustained minor injuries when a serviceman opened fire at her, with a country-made weapon after K Ramadevi daughter rejected the marriage proposal of the service man at Nadimpalli village under Cherukupalli Mandal in Guntur district Saturday morning.

The police said that Balaji, a soldier with Indian army who was released from jail a few days ago, went to Ramadevi’s house and opened fire from the Tapancha as soon as she opened the door.

Noticing that Balaji came with a fire- arm, the alert Ramadevi moved quickly to escape from the spot. However, one bullet pierced through her right ear. Hearing her screams, neighbours rushed to the scene and tried to apprehend Balaji, who threw the bag and the weapon and escaped.

Ramadevi was shifted to a nearby hospital, where her condition is said to be stable. The police, led by Sub-Inspector P Ramesh, rushed to the spot and nabbed one auto-rickshaw driver, who had helped Balaji

Mr Ramesh said that Balaji is a native of Nallamothuvarpalem village under Karla mandal of Guntur district. He was stalking Ramadevi’s daughter for the past few weeks and had proposed to her, which she rejected. As he continued harassing her, the family lodged a complaint with the police, who arrested him a couple of weeks back. Enraged, Balaji rushed to her house on his release from jail.

The SI said that they had formed three special teams to nab Balaji, against whom they will inform army officials.