Guntur: Annam Rama Subbaiah accused of raping a nine-year-old girl has reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the Nallamala forest near Amaralingeswara temple in Daida, Gurazala mandal in Guntur district. The suicide theory has been greeted with suspicion by family members of the accused and victim but home minister N. China Rajappa and police officials claim Subbaiah might have committed suicide due to remorse of committing the rape.
The body was found after a two-day search and Mr Rajappa announced the suicide during a press meet at Dachepalli at 1 pm on Friday. DGP M. Malakondaiah also confirmed the suicide and showed the photo of Subbaiah’s suicide to the media. After an autopsy the body was given to hisfamily members who performed the last rites.
There was some drama when angry women gheraoed the convoy of ministers China Rajpappa and P. Pulla Rao at Dachepalli, demanding that the dead body of Subbaiah be given to them so they could burn it in public on the road, which would be a lesson to rapists. They said the police had promised to arrest Subbaiah in 24 hours and parade him in public at Dachepalli. Minister Pulla Rao had to step out of his car and speak to the angry women and assure them justice would be done. The relatives of Subbaiah refused to take the dead body hence the police directed the Dachepalli panchayat to take the body for the funeral.
AP CM Chandrababu Naidu will meet the victim’s family in Dachepalli on Saturday. As often happens, instead of a clear, impartial investigation, political parties jumped into the fray to muddy the waters, and justice for the victim and her suffering and the heinous nature of the crime has got conveniently obscured.
The TD and YSRC are busy dissociating themselves from charges of being associated with the accused Subbaiah. This morning TD ministers and legislators alleged that Subbaiah was an activist of the YSRC. In the evening YSRC BC wing state president Janga Krishna Murthy countered that Subbaiah was with the TD and showed related papers to prove it. Addressing a press meet at Guntur, Mr Krishna Murthy refuted the allegations of TD MLA Y Srinivasa Rao about Subbaiah's association with YSRC.
