Raptadu chainsaw attack: Police shoot accused; Lokesh says girl faces critical 48 hours

On Sunday, 1 November, police said they shot and wounded the suspect in the Raptadu classroom chainsaw attack after tracing him to the Atmakur forest area. He was taken to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Anantapur in a critical condition. The Class 10 student he is accused of attacking is being treated at Bengaluru’s Manipal Hospital, and Education Minister Nara Lokesh said the same day that she faced a critical 48-hour period.

Police said special teams learned that the suspect, who ran from the school after the attack, had taken cover in the forest. When officers closed in to arrest him, they said, he pulled a knife on them and then made a run for it. Police said shots were first fired into the air as a warning, and the team fired at him only after that. They identified him as Hemanth, from Dharmavaram mandal.

What happened on 31 October

It was around 10 in the morning on Saturday, 31 October, when a man carrying an electric chainsaw entered Raptadu’s Zilla Parishad High School and turned it on the girl in her classroom. She lost her right hand. She suffered skull and rib fractures and deep cuts to the face and neck. A classmate who stepped in to shield her was also injured.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu condemned the attack on the day it happened. He told the doctors that her care came first, and directed the police to catch the attacker and make sure he received strict punishment.

Twelve hours in surgery

At the Anantapur GGH, doctors spent close to eight hours stabilising her, Lokesh said. She was then moved to Bengaluru along a green corridor, and at Manipal Hospital her surgery went on for close to 12 hours.

Lokesh met her doctors in Bengaluru on Sunday and promised her family the government’s backing. He told reporters that her treatment and rehabilitation were the government’s responsibility, and urged people all over Andhra Pradesh to pray that she recovers. He said the incident must not be politicised, and that nobody responsible would be spared.