Kanigiri: Women allege thrashing by SI

Kanigiri: Two women fish sellers staged a protest in Kanigiri on Friday alleging that the local SI has beaten them for a financer, from whom their families took loan a few months ago.

The two women, Kumaragiri Mastanamma and Mekala Lakshmi Devi, said that they sell fish in the market while their sons Srinu and Durgaprasad took a loan of Rs 60,000 each from a construction mason Venkateswarlu.

The boys work for the mason and repay the loan amount in installments, but due to the lockdown they didn't find work, the women said. But, the mason-cum-financer continued to pester them about the installments and they managed to pay them except in the last month.

The women alleged that the local SI Sivanarayana Reddy called them to the police station on Friday afternoon, where the mason Venkateswarlu demanded them for money.

They said that they have informed the mason and SI that they were looking for a loan from others and pleaded for one month's time to repay the mason. However, the SI removed his leather belt and beaten them up and warned that they should pay the mason by evening, the women alleged.

The women said their sons were not able to find any work due to lockdown and the money they earn by selling fish is just enough to run the house.

They said that they are promising the mason to repay the loan as soon as possible within a month, but the SI has used force by beating them with the belt.

However, Kanigiri SI Sivanarayana Reddy is not available for the response even though this paper tried for multiple times.