Farmer sentenced to life for 2017 murder of Dalit woman in Vikarabad

Hyderabad: Yerragolla Mahesh, 40, a farmer from Kotipally in Vikarabad district, has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined ₹15,000 for the 2017 murder of a Dalit woman. M Bhavani, Special Judge for SC & ST cases in Rangareddy district, delivered the verdict. The victim, a 42-year-old daily wage worker, was killed after resisting Mahesh's attempt at sexual assault.

According to police, Mahesh lured the victim with alcohol and took her to the outskirts of Kotipally. When she resisted his advances and threatened to report him, he pushed her onto a boulder, rendering her unconscious, and then strangled her. Initially registered as a suspicious death, the case was reclassified as murder following the post-mortem examination. Investigators linked Mahesh to the crime after witnesses confirmed he was last seen with the victim. During interrogation, he confessed, leading to his arrest and subsequent chargesheet.

SP Vikarabad K Narayana Reddy commended the investigating, prosecution, and court monitoring teams for securing the conviction in this critical case.