Telangana CM orders probe into Khammam farmer's suicide

Hyderabad, July 2: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday ordered a probe after a farmer in Khammam district died by suicide, after alleging revenue and police officials failed to act on his complaint that some people had damaged his agricultural field.

B. Prabhakar, 45, of Poddutur village of Chintakani mandal, made a video on before consuming pesticides.

Taking serious note of the incident, the Chief Minister directed officials to conduct a thorough probe and take action against those responsible.

In the video, widely circulated on social media, the farmer said officials failed to act on his complaint that some villagers had damaged his agricultural field with earthmovers.

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao also directed revenue and police officials to immediately conduct an inquiry and take action against those involved. The minister asked officials to submit the inquiry report to the government. He appealed to farmers not to end lives over disputes and assured them that they would get justice under the Congress rule.

Earlier, BRS MLA Harish Rao showed the farmer’s selfie video at a press conference. He alleged that instead of filing cases against encroachers based on the dying statement of the farmer, police were trying to file cases against the person who took the video of Prabhakar's suicide. He alleged that the farmer did not get any help from police or revenue officials.

The former minister said the farmer’s complaint was not registered at the police station which reflects the deteriorating law and order situation in Telangana.

Harish Rao demanded Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia for the farmer’s family and a government job for a family member.

Prabhakar, in his video, named five persons in his village who damaged his agriculture field spread over three acres by digging up the soil using earthmovers. He said he had complained to the local Sub-Inspector and Tahsildar, but they failed to solve his problem. He went to Khammam on Monday to bring the matter to the notice of the District Collector but as the grievance cell meeting was over, he could not do so.

After consuming the pesticide, he called his family. They informed the police and by the time his kin could reach the spot, Prabhakar was found dead.