Tension broke out at Pochamma Maidan in Warangal on June 18 morning during the funeral procession of Damera Rakesh, who was killed in alleged police firing during the violent protests by scores of army job aspirants against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme at Secunderabad railway station on June 17, with some protesters setting ablaze flexi board of the BSNL office at the busy junction in the city.
The incident occurred soon after the funeral procession passed through Pochamma Maidan en route to Dabeerpet, the native village of the deceased, in Khanapur mandal at around 11 am, sources said.
Some of the irate protesters pelted stones at the building damaging the window panes.
Police immediately dispersed the angry protesters and foiled their attempt to barge into the BSNL office building.
Earlier in the day, Panchayat Raj Minister E. Dayakar Rao and Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod, Government Chief Whip D. Vinay Bhaskar and a host of TRS leaders consoled the grief stricken parents of Mr. Rakesh in MGM hospital in the city.
The TRS leaders squatted on the main road for some time demanding scrapping of the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for armed forces.
Various organisations called a day-long protest in Narsampet constituency today in protest against the “police firing” on the protesters during the “anti-Agnipath” agitation at Secunderabad railway station on June 17.
Normal life was affected in Narsampet, Khanapur and its neighbouring mandals as shops downed their shutters and the TSRTC buses remained off the roads across Narsampet constituency.
The police made tight security arrangements at Dabeerpet village, where the funeral of the deceased army job aspirant is slated to be conducted later in the day.
