KHAMMAM: Residents of Gudimalla in Khammam rural mandal beat up one Sivaram Singh, a man from Madhya Pradesh, suspecting him to be a child-lifter.
Sivaram fell unconscious after the relentless beating. He was later shifted to the hospital. The attack on him took place after rumours began making rounds that a child-lifting gang was moving in the mandal.
Sivaram, after the day’s work at a factory, got down at Gudimalla village by mistake from an auto instead of Pandregupalli where he lives.
Realising that he got down at the wrong village, he sought to know how to reach his village. As no adults were around, he tried to communicate with a few children playing nearby using hand gestures.
Women, seeing him making gestures to the children with his hands, raised an alarm. Villagers immediately rushed to the spot and thrashed him without inquiring who he was and what he was doing there.
Learning about the incident, the Khammam rural police rushed to the spot and shifted him to hospital. The police arrested one Domala Venkaesh and a few others for beating him.
