Hyderabad: Body of a 60-year-old man was left outside his house for four days as his elder son refused to cremate him unless two-acre land that was gifted to his stepmother was transferred to him. Finally, following intervention of the land revenue officials and police, a part of the land was transferred to the deceased's son and the cremation was held on Friday.
The incident took place in Edunutala village in Kodakandla mandal of Telangana's Jangaon district. According to locals, Velikatte Yadagiri (60), a resident of Edunutala village, died on February 10 after prolonged illness.
Velikatte had two wives and three children. He had a son, Ramesh, from his first wife, Renuka, and a son, Upender, and daughter, Shobha, from his second wife, Padma.
Velikatte owned 15 acres of land. He registered five acres each in the names of his two sons, Ramesh and Upender, and gifted three acres to his daughter Shobha during her marriage. The remaining two acres were registered in the name of his second wife Padma.
After Yadagiri passed away, his body was brought to the house of his first wife, Ramesh, in Edunutala by his second wife and daughter. However, Ramesh, who was the elder son refused to cremate the body. He submitted a petition to the panchayat demanding that the two-acre land that was gifted to his stepmother be transferred in his name, claiming he had been deprived during property distribution.
"My son has been harassing me over demands of registering property in his name ever since my husband died. The elders and relatives are also supporting him. If I hand over my two acres of land to him, I will be left with nothing. So I don't want to transfer my land in this manner," Padma said.
With the panchayat initially failing to provide any instruction, the body remained in front of the house for four days. Finally, the police and land revenue officials intervened and after several rounds of talks with the family members, a written agreement was made for transferring one acre of land from Padma to Ramesh. Finally, the last rites were held.
