Four persons, including a former MPTC member (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency), were arrested by the Andhra police for allegedly providing logistical support to the Naxals who killed TDP Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma on September 23 at Livitput village, Visakhapatnam.
During a press conference on Sunday, the police said that the arrested accused had allegedly provided food and shelter to the extremists and also shared crucial information on the movement of the MLA. Police said that the extremists reportedly reached Livitiput from Odisha.
The four arrested were Yedala Subba Rao (ex-MPTC), Gemmeli Sobhan, Yedela Eswari and Korra Kamala, all natives of Dumbriguda mandal. They were arrested on Sunday. They were members of Organisation for Protection of Girijan Rights, an alleged Maoist supporters group which was inactive, said Special Investigation Team head DCP K Fakeerappa.
The arrested accused have been named as Accused (A)-46, A-47, A-48 and A-49 respectively. Police also seized 10 kg of explosive material used in making IEDs, 20 metres of electric wire and some Maoist literature.
“In our investigation, it is revealed that the four persons provided vital information about the movement of the two TDP leaders to the Maoists on September 21 and 22. Maoists of Nandapur and Narayanapatna area committees, led by Maoist top leader Venkata Ravi Chaitanya alias Aruna of Nandapur Dalam, came to Livitiput and took shelter in the houses of Maoist sympathisers a couple of days before September 23,” New Indian Express quoted DCP K Fakeerappa quoted as saying.
The DCP denied the claims of the Maoists that they had killed the politicians because of their alleged role to exploit bauxite and said that they had eliminated them to induce fear in local politicians and police.
“The killings are not related to the alleged illegal mining activities of the ruling TDP leaders in the Agency,” NIE quoted police as saying.
On September 23, MLA Sarveswara Rao and Siveri Soma were on their way to attend ‘Grama Darshini’ at Sarai village in Dumbriguda mandal. Their vehicles were stopped by Naxals near Livitiput and they were gunned down after conducting a ‘praja court’. About 50 Maoists were part of the attack, SP Rahul Dev Sharma said.