'Mistaken identity': Trio apologise to student after stabbing him in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur

GUNTUR: In a suspected case of mistaken identity, three youths stabbed a student, who stopped his car on the inner ring road in the city.

The trio, however, realised their mistake while fleeing the spot and not just apologised to the victim, but also gave him Rs 1,000 towards his medical treatment.

Though the incident took place a few days ago, it came to light after the police nabbed the accused on Sunday.

According to Nallapadu rural police, Pallam Teja of Chukkapalem village in Duggirala mandal, is staying at Dharanikota in Amaravathi, where he is pursuing BSc second year in a private college.

On Sunday last, his parents visited him and in the evening he dropped them back at Chukkapalem in a car. While returning to Dharanikota late night, he got a flat tyre on the inner ring road. He stopped the car by the roadside, waiting for help. 

Meanwhile, a motorcycle-borne youth came there and started abusing and beating Teja. He also stabbed Teja in the abdomen with a knife. Even as Teja recovered from the sudden attack, two more youths came there on another bike and they too attacked him with sticks.

When Teja collapsed, one of the attackers flashed a torch on his face and the car registration number while fleeing, and realised that they had attacked the wrong person. 

The trio apologised to Teja and even gave him Rs 1,000 towards his medical expenses. Later, Teja managed to reach the Government General Hospital in Guntur.  

“Initially, there were no clues as Teja could not identify any of the accused as it was dark and he was in a shock at that time. However, we got leads after verifying the footage of CCTV cameras on the inner ring road and took the trio into custody, who were identified as Shaik Akthar, Ayyappa and Sai,” Nallapadu CI K Veeraswamy said.The police said the trio were chasing a car driver, who hit one of them and sped away. Mistaking Teja as the one who hit their vehicle, the trio attacked him.