TRS workers attack forest guards, police with sticks in Telangana

A police team and forest range guard officers were attacked allegedly by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) workers in Sirpur-Kaghaznagar area of Telangana's Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, on Sunday, June 30.

A video shared on social media platforms shows a group of men attacking the forest range officers and thrashing their vehicles.

The incident took place during a tree plantation drive on the land, which was allegedly encroached upon by the TRS leaders.

The victim has reportedly identified the man who attacked her as Koneru Krishna, Zila Parishad vice-chairman and brother of Sirpur TRS MLA Koneru Konappa.

"Forest department is terrorising the aboriginal adivasi farmers and confiscating their land forcefully. I was there to resolve the issue and to ensure justice for tribal as forest officials were destroying crops in the name afforestation," the accused TRS leader was quoted as saying in an India Today report.

"I tried to pacify department authorities but in vain the attack was accidental action not intentional,"
he added.

Chief Minister of the state K Chandrashekhar Rao-led TRS, which had scored a landslide victory in the state assembly, suffered a setback in the in recently-concluded Lok Sabha election.

While the ruling party had claimed that it will bag 16 out of 17 seats in the Lok Sabha, the party only won nine, bringing down its tally from 11 in the 2014 general election.