Amaravathi: Chikkam Veera Durga Prasad, native of Sannavilli village of Uppalaguptam mandal in Ambedkar Konaseema district, was tied to a pillar and badly beaten, for opposing the illegal aqua ponds in his village.
He has been waging a legal fight to stall the illegal digging of aquaculture ponds, as they not only cause air pollution but also ground and water pollution; resulting in severe health issues among the villagers.
The attack took place on December 9, when Durga Prasad went to take pictures of the illegal aqua ponds in his village.
The forest divisional officer (FDO) had asked him to take photographs of the illegal borewells through which water was being filled illegally in aqua ponds, despite the gram sabha resolution passed against their operation, and the court ordering the shut down of those aqua ponds on March 20, 2024.
The aquaculture farmers continued to dig ponds in violation of the court’s ruling and were using borewells to fill them, following which Prasad approached the FDO.
Ganisetti Venkata Raju, Ganisetti Srinivasa Rao, Chikkam Gandhi and Ganisetti Satyanarayana Murthy, allegedly tied him to a pillar of a shed near the aqua ponds, destroyed his cell phone, and then thrashed him with their hands and sticks.
Chikkam Veerabhadra Rao, the brother of Durga Prasad, along with their father, the village president and a few others went to rescue the victim, but the attackers didn’t let him go. It was only after the villagers intervened, that Durga Prasad was released.
The police have booked a case and are investigating.
The accused have been charged under Section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon, Section 342 (wrongful confinement), and Section 323 (common aim to voluntarily cause hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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