Journalist & his relatives arrested by Nelamangala Rural Police for torturing and beating labourer to death in an inebriated state at his farm

Pramesh S Jain 

The Nelamangala Rural Police have arrested a Journalist and his relative for torturing and beating a 45-year-old labourer to death in an inebriated state at their farm house situated in Hurulihalli village in the outskirts of the city on Saturday.

The accused identified as Manjunath (34) owner of the farm house and is brother-in-law Ravikumar (39),who is a senior reporter with a Kannada news channel ( ETV bharat ) .

Senior officer told reporters,the victim Siddaraju,working as labourer in the farm house was tortured and beaten to death while they were drunk accusing him of theft.

The accused assaulted him with the sticks and even kicked his private part which led him to his death,the officer, said .

“The accused even stomped in the groin region when Siddaraju fell down and begged for mercy.

After Siddaraju fell unconscious unable to bear the torture,the accused called Siddaraju’s son Chethan HS over the phone informing him to come and take his father .

When Chethan found Siddaraju,he was found Siddaraju battered and bruised,rushed him to the Nelamangala hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Chethan in his complaint alleged the duo had tortured him accusing him of stealing coconuts from the farm house .

Chethan in his complaint said that Siddaraju was asking for water to drink which indicate that he was tortured for hours before being killed .

Investigations revealed that Siddaraju was working as a labourer in Manjunath’s farm for the last six months.However,he was never paid any wages.

The accused told him to get the fallen tender coconuts from the farm house and sell it to get money.However they used to torture Siddaraju accusing him of plucking more coconuts,the officer, said .

“The accused used to get drunk and beat Siddaraju regularly for fun,The probe revealed that the duo used to treat Siddaraju badly because he is from backward caste .

The accused even misuse the name of press telling Siddaraju that even he cannot go and complaint to anyone , the probe revealed .

The accused did not realized that Siddaraju was dead but soon fled the scene after hearing his death news.

However based on the complaint,a team of police led by,Narendra Babu MR,Inspector Nelamangala rural station, track down the accused and arrested them on Wednesday.

The duo was charged under Section 103(1) (murder) of BNS and also under various sections of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill.