Police arrest five accused in assault case in Dharmavaram

Five accused, facing allegations of illegal money-lending operations, were arrested for assaulting a couple over unpaid high-interest loans in Dharmavaram town of Sri Sathya Sai district on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, Superintendent of Police V. Ratna said the accused barged into the house of a couple — Bharathi and Ramana — at Shantinagar locality of the town on the night of July 23, and assaulted the couple and their son, besides extorting ₹7000. When the neighbours objected to their unruly behaviour, the accused fled the scene.

Taking a complaint from the victims, the Dharmavaram urban police registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita. An investigation was launched under the supervision of Deputy SP Narasingappa.

The arrested were identified as Mahesh, Vinod Kumar, Hemanth Kumar, Govardhan, and Manohar (in the age group of 22-28), hailing from Dharmavaram and surrounding villages. Two others, Raja and Vijay, were still at large, and a special team was formed to track them. Raja is in the police records as a rowdy-sheeter, the SP said.

Mr. Ratna said that a special police party tracked the movements of the accused with the help of mobile surveillance and technical analysis. All five were sent for remand.

The SP warned that criminal action, including the PD Act, would be taken against the repeat offenders. She informed the public to report any illegal moneylending activity in their areas, and their identities would be kept confidential.