The East Godavari police in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday arrested six people for the murder of journalist K Satyanarayana, who was killed earlier this month.
45-year-old Satyanarayana was a reporter with the Telugu newspaper Andhrajyothi and two assailants had carried out the attack near his residence in S Annavaram village in Tuni mandal as he was returning home from work on October 15.
Police said that one more accused is absconding. The accused were identified as Venkata Ramana, Sakuru Durga, Sivaramakrishna Tataji, Gangisetty Suresh, B Ramesh and Allad Babjee. One Dorababu is still absconding.
The police had earlier booked Tuni YSRCP MLA and government chief whip Dadisetti Raja, after a complaint by the deceased journalist's family members, who alleged that the accused were backed by the legislator. However, his name was dropped from the FIR after his role was probed.
The police now say that Satyanarayana had allegedly threatened to influence authorities and had blackmailed both the accused- Venkata Ramana and Dorababu. Venkata Ramana allegedly ended up paying Rs 2 lakh to the journalist. Following this, the accused planned to murder him, the police said. However, the police have not clearly mentioned who the accused are and what the journalist was allegedly threatening them for.
Meanwhile, the six accused who were taken into custody, were presented in front of a local court and sent to judicial remand.
TNM had also reported earlier that Satyanarayana had survived an attack a month before his death and it was reported to the police, but they failed to give him protection.
The murder saw widespread condemnation with Minister for Information and Public Relations Perni Nani, assuring stringent punishment to the accused.
Actor-politician and Jana Sena Party President Pawan Kalyan had strongly condemned the ghastly murder and termed it as an attack on journalism.
