Man hurt as civic officials raze room with him inside

Hyderabad: A 55-year-old man was injured when civic authorities razed a room in which he was sleeping after allegedly failing to give any warning about a drive against illegal structures in Telangana's Rangareddy district, police said.

The victim, T Srinivas Rao, a shop worker, was taking a nap in the room yesterday when the district's revenue authorities went to Devender Nagar under Cyberabad police commissionarate limits to dismantle some illegal structures with earth-movers, Jawaharnagar Inspector Venkatagiri said.

However, the officials did not notice the victim sleeping in the room. He suffered injuries as the roof collapsed. He was immediately admitted to a hospital and is stated to be out of danger, he said. Due to the noise of the earth-mover, the demolition squad failed to hear the victim's cry for help, said a revenue official who was present during the incident. Srinivas, a resident of Malkajgiri, used to take a nap in the room after lunch as it was lying vacant, the police officer said.

Based on a complaint, police registered a case against the revenue officials for allegedly not giving any notice prior to demolition and negligence, he added.

PTI