Hyderabad: Annepaka Ellaiah, 52, a daily labourer committed suicide at Saidabad over alleged harassment by the police for clearing traffic challans. After his bike was allegedly detained by the traffic police, Ellaiah went home and consumed poison.
His family rushed him to a nearby private hospital, where he was declared dead.
A note purportedly written by Ellaiah, in which he addressed Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Minister KT Rama Rao and detailed how he was harassed by the cops to clear the challans pending on his bike, was found at his home.
The note said "SI Ganesh stopped my vehicle. He said that he will not release the vehicle without clearing the pending challans of Rs 10,000. I said I am a labourer and can not pay such a huge amount at a time, but he did not listen,”
Saidabad police registered a case under 174 CrPC and launched an investigation. They have also recovered the note and sent it for forensic examination. Saidabad Inspector K. Subba Rami Reddy said that all angles are being probed into and based on the evidence, the investigation would proceed, he said.
Ellaiah, belonging to Devarakonda in Nalgonda district, is residing at IS Sadan area along with his wife and children. On Monday evening, when he was returning home from work, traffic police stopped and detained his vehicle, following which he took the extreme step.
Meanwhile, traffic police denied having seized the vehicle for pending challans. They said he was stopped during the drunken driving checks being conducted at Champapet and he cooperated with them and took a test.
He recorded 155 mg dl BAC in the breath analyser test, following which the cops asked him to inform his relatives to come and take him home. But he said that he would collect the bike later, collected an acknowledgement and left the place.
Mirchowk Traffic Inspector P Pramod Kumar said that they were conducting drunk driving checks. A total of 12 persons were caught in the checks. He was caught in drunk driving checks in 2019 and in December 2022 as well.
“The entire process was video recorded. The records along with the drunk driving test ticket were handed over to Saidabad police for further investigation,” he added.
As per the police records, Ellaiah’s bike TS 11EM 9796 has 24 challans on the bike since 2018 including the drunken driving challan issued on March 6.
