Depleting resources: Man, son killed in water war' in Nalgonda district

Hyderabad: Depleting groundwater levels in Nalgonda district led to rivalry between two cousins which culminated in the murder of a 40-year-old man and his 15-year-old son on Thursday night.

The deceased were identified as G. Srinivas and his son G. Vinay. Srinivas and Vinay were residents of D. Kothapalli village in Arvapally mandal of Nalgonda district. Srinivas, a farmer, owned around 14 acres of land around 3 km from the village and Vinay was studying in Class X in a local school.

Sources said Srinivas’ relatives, G. Venkatana-rayana and G. Avilayya, from the same village owned around 15 acres adjacent to Srinivas’ land. The deceased had two borewells in his field while Venkatanarayana had three. The latter had recently dug another borewell but it had failed. All the five borewells were located within 20 yards of each other, due to which they faced water shortage.

Water war was on for last 15 years
Depleting groundwater levels in Nalgonda district led to a fight between cousins culminating in the murder of a man and his son.

“If the borewell in one field pumped water, the one in the other field would not function. This was the main cause of rivalry between the two families,” said Tungaturthi police inspector D. Laxman.

The dispute over sharing groundwater had been going on for more than 15 years and apart from fights, they had even filed cases in this regard. The rivalry worsened when Srinivas started using a generator to pump water from his bore, due to which the borewell in Venkatanarayana’s field dried up. Srinivas and Vinay, with the help of the generator, would water the field from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm and would later sleep in the field waiting for the power supply that would come at midnight. “Between 10.30 and 11.30 pm, they were severely beaten with sticks and murdered brutally,” inspector Laxman added.

Srinivas’ family alleged that Venkatanarayana and his brother Avilaiah had killed them over the water issue. Based on a complaint from Srinivas’ wife Radha, a murder case has been registered. The bodies were handed over to the family after post-mortem. Special teams have been formed to nab Venkatanarayana and Avilaiah who are absconding.