Hyderabad: Greed for ancient treasure led a group of ten people on a hunt in a field in Velpupally village in Thurkapally mandal in Yadadri Bhongir district. Instead, seven of them, including three policemen and a former deputy sarpanch, were arrested by the Rachakonda police. Three others are at large.
On October 3, Yadagiri Muralidhar Rao, the farm owner, who lives in Hyderabad, visited his fields on the outskirts of Velpupally and found the boundary pillars damaged and a fencing erected. Three large pits were dug in the fields, one under an old idol of Lord Hanuman, and two pits under the stones that contained unidentified scripts. He complained to the Thurkapally police. A shepherd in the village saw a group digging late in the day and shouted at them. As soon as he did, they fled.
Police also found that the former deputy sarpanch of the village, D. Achaiah, was in the group. Apparently, there were local rumours that a village on the outskirts of existing Velpupally several decades ago had treasure in the fields.
Achaiah was picked up for questioning. He confessed about hunting for treasure. His partners were included home guard A. Ramakrishna of Bhongir fire station; head constable A. Srinivas Reddy (57) of Choutuppal police station; constable V. Prabhakar (47) of Motakondur police station, currently under suspension; and C. Durga Prasad, J. Narayan Reddy, and S.K. Pasha.
After registering a case, the police started reaching out to villagers of Velpupally and other surrounding villages of Yadagirigutta, the temple town, and found they believed that centuries-old treasures were hidden under the ruins.
C. Venkataiah, sub-inspector, Thurkapally police station, said, “Villagers in these areas of Yadadri believe that treasures are hidden under the ruins. The accused formed a gang and carryied out a treasure hunt. They have been booked for trespassing besides under other relevant sections of the Indian Treasure Trove Act.” He said that three more accused involved in the hunt are still at large and police teams were working on catching them.
