YSRCP candidate from Mandapeta Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh, Thota Trimurthulu was convicted by a Vizag court and sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months along with eight other persons.
Additionally, they have been fined Rs 2.5 lakh by an SC and ST Court in Vizag.Trimurthulu, currently a YSRCP MLC, was the prime accused in the Venkatayapalem Dalit tonsure case in East Godavari district which took place in 1996.
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He was then an independent MLA elected in the 1994 polls from Ramachandrapuram.
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On the night of 29 December, 1996, he and his men had tonsured Koti Chinnaraju and Dadala Venkataratnam while beating up Challapudi Pattabhiramayya, Kanikella Ganapati, and Puvvala Venkataramana.
The victims, supporters of the BSP, belonged to the Mala and Madiga communities among Dalits and had opposed the rigging at the polling booth during 1994 elections, earning his ire.
It spiralled into an argument leading to a ruckus. On the night of 29 December the victims were taken to his house, where they were forcibly tonsured.
The incident caused a sensation in unified Andhra Pradesh leading to protests by Dalit organisations before an FIR was lodged against him by police.
Meanwhile, one of the victims and an accused have passed away in the intervening 28 years. Currently, he is on bail and vowed to fight it out at a higher court.
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