Andhra woman in debt tied to tree, thrashed publicly in CM’s constituency; TDP worker, his wife held

The woman, identified as Sirisha, 28, was dragged from her house in front of her two children by TDP member S Manikappa, who is of the same village.

A member of a Telugu Desam Party (TDP), his wife and four other members of his family were arrested on Monday after they allegedly tied up a woman to a tree and thrashed her over failing to repay a loan that her husband had taken, Indian Express reported. The incident occurred in Narayanapuram village in Kuppam Mandal, the constituency of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

According to the report, the woman, identified as Sirisha, 28, was dragged from her house in front of her two children by TDP member S Manikappa, who is of the same village, police said.

The woman’s husband, R Timappa, who is a daily wage labourer, had taken a loan of Rs 80,000 two years ago from Manikappa. Police said Timappa has been paying the loan in small monthly installments. However, Timappa recently fled to Bengaluru to work as a construction labourer and had stopped paying the money to Manikappa, the report added.

“Manikappa tied her to a tree and demanded money. His wife, Munemma, and sister-in-law ended up assaulting Sirisha. We have rescued Sirisha and registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 341, 323, 324, 606, and 34,’’ a police officer was quoted by Indian Express as saying.

According to the report, the woman had also allegedly fled to Bengaluru with her children. She returned to her village on Monday to seek school transfer certificates for her children.

A viral video of the incident that surfaced on Tuesday shows Manikappa’s wife slapping and hitting Sirisha despite villagers trying to stop her.Bottom of Form The police said Manikappa and five members of his family and relatives have been arrested in the case, the report added.