Brutal murder of engineering fresher in Andhra Pradesh raises furore

By Venkatesh Raghavan

Visakhapatnam: The brutal killing of an engineering fresher in the port region of Vizag bordering the northern Odisha state just four days after he joined college, currently being attributed to a mix of extreme physical ragging trend and caste equations has set an entire village community comprising some 6300 fishermen to protest strongly on the face of police apathy in connection with the gruesome incident.

The student Muvvala Nagesh hailing from a fishing village in Andhra Pradesh by name Nuvvala Revu was last heard talking to his parents over the telephone on the afternoon of Republic Day at around 1 p.m. The village is located in Vajrapukottur area of Srikakulam district. Nagesh officially joined the Sri Sivani Engineering College located at Echerla on January 21, 2021. The campus is some 100 and odd kilometres from his village. 

Local political and social activist Bolisetty Satyanarayana who hosted a press conference to highlight the inhuman cruelty fresher Nagesh was subject to informed globalbihari.com that there were very strong caste equations that were at play not only in the campus but also the neighbouring localities which included the fishermen village. “People from higher strata of castes do not want to see anyone from this community to come up. There were two previous incidents where freshers in this college went missing and till date nothing is known about their fate. Besides, viewing it circumstantially, neither this boy nor his family had any rivals or enemies either in their village or the college.”

After joining the college on January 21, he went back to his village home and returned to the college on 25^th. Nagesh spoke to his parents and sounded very cheerful at around 1p.m. on January 26. When his parents again tried to reach him over the mobile at around 4 p.m. it just kept ringing and there was no answer. It was subsequently discovered that he was brutally assaulted and burnt alive in the garden that was adjacent to the college hostel. Nagesh’ parents along with a team of villagers staged a strong protest before the local police along with the hostel management opened the doors of his room.

The room was splattered with a blood trail, confirming that Nagesh had been tortured inside the hostel premises. His torn clothes also stood mute testimony to the aggression the fresher was submitted to prior to the partial charring of his body.

While the police are yet to act on or arrest anyone from the hostel management side or senior students, the local politicians blamed the inability of the authorities in identifying the culprits to the absence of closed-circuit cameras. They also pointed out that police failed in their vigilance, which could have helped in effecting arrests of suspects both from the hostel management and student side within hours of the incident.  

Satyanarayana decried the negligence exhibited by the authorities when it came to administering justice to poor families, pointing out that even after the incident was brought to their notice, they failed to register an FIR till Nagesh’s parents and group of protesting villagers coaxed them into action. The official line on the matter was sounded by Andhra Pradesh cabinet minister Sidiri Appala Raju. Strangely, the minister who also hails from the fishermen community sounded a placating note rather than using his authority to act firmly against the erring policemen.

The locals and press persons witnessed the minister pleading with the police not to get offended in the event the villagers use harsh words and elaborating that his entire village was a united lot be it mass weddings or any celebration. “The village always speaks in one voice and may even exercise the option of boycotting elections if their grievance is not addressed,” he concluded. Satyanarayana termed the minister’s behaviour as a show of weakness and ineptitude in exerting his authority to suspend the police officials who failed to act in a timely manner and register the complaint.

Meanwhile, former bureaucrat, Tammireddy Sivasankar Rao who is currently active with the Janasena Party, sounded a flurry of questions including: “Why did the police fail in making arrests even a week after the brutal murder took place? Why was there no action against the college administration and hostel authorities? Why was the FIR not filed in time?” He also expressed the apprehension that the authorities may try to bail out the college and hostel management.

At present, the Janasena Party is spearheading the cause of remedial justice for the victims of violent physical hostel ragging and has sought reports from its party office bearers in Vizag for a field inspection and detailed report.

The police informed media persons that the case has been registered on the basis of the complaint filed by the boy’s parents and at present the investigations are underway to determine the facts that led to the murder.