Guntur: TDP Ward Secretary Arrested for Assaulting Woman; 1,600-Year-Old Ganesha Idols Found
Three people including a Telugu Desam Party ward secretary were arrested in Guntur after a 46-year-old woman was stripped and assaulted during a dispute over a borewell in Nagarpalem. In a separate discovery reported on July 24, two small Ganesha idols believed to be nearly 1,600 years old were unearthed from an agricultural field in Kaja village in the Mangalagiri area of Guntur district.
TDP Functionary Among Three Arrested for Stripping and Assaulting Woman
A 46-year-old woman was stripped and assaulted following a dispute over water supply in a village in Nagarpalem, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. The police arrested three accused in connection with the case: Mallela Venkata Ramana Murthy, Sampurna, and Tirupati Durga. Mallela Venkata Ramana Murthy is identified as the secretary of Ward 21 in Guntur and a member of the Telugu Desam Party. Guntur Superintendent of Police Vakul Jindal, speaking to The News Minute, confirmed that the accused and the victim were neighbours. According to the SP, the borewell outside the accused's house had been damaged once the municipality started drainage expansion works in the area. When the accused attempted to reinstall the borewell, the victim objected, leading to a confrontation. The victim was dragged out of her house during the assault. The incident was captured on video, with a screengrab showing the assault under Guntur's Nagarpalem limits. The case drew swift political fallout: Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh stated that Mallela Venkata Ramana, one of the three accused, had been suspended from all party posts. The incident highlighted the intersection of civic infrastructure disputes and political party accountability in the district. [7]
🪔 1,600-Year-Old Ganesha Idols Unearthed in Agricultural Field in Mangalagiri
Two small Ganesha idols believed to be nearly 1,600 years old were discovered in an agricultural field in Kaja village in the Mangalagiri area of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. The find was reported by ETV Bharat on July 24, 2026. The two small idols are believed by those who examined them to have been carved from red sandstone or Chintamani stone. The significance of the discovery lies in the estimated age of the statues, which would place their creation in the early centuries of the first millennium CE, a period associated with significant religious and artistic activity across the Krishna-Guntur belt of Andhra Pradesh. The idols were found in a field in Kaja village, part of the Mangalagiri assembly segment of Guntur district. The discovery of such ancient religious artefacts in an agricultural setting is consistent with patterns found elsewhere in the region, where cultivation has periodically brought early medieval objects to the surface. The idols are small in size but considered notable given their apparent age and the quality of the stone carving. Further details on custody and examination of the idols were not available in the initial report. [5]
Sources: [7] The News Minute · [5] ETV Bharat