A senior Maoist leader, allegedly involved in an assassination attempt on Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu in 2003, has been detained by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), as per a report in The New Indian Express.
The arrested Maoist leader, Sriramula Srinivas alias Sudarshan, a native of Nalgonda district, was picked up from Hyderabad and taken to Gujarat.
The report said that Sudarshan was working actively at the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2010, and allegedly radicalised a section of youth in Surat, Gujarat and instigated them against the government.
The Surat police have booked a case under Sections 121 (waging war or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India) 124 A (sedition), 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc) of IPC and other relevant sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), reported TNIE.
Sudarshan was also allegedly involved in the killing of the then Home Minister Alimineti Madaha Reddy.
He played a key role in the Maoist party’s central committee, and formed Navajawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) and Majdoor Vikas Manch (MVM).
He enrolled members into these committees to fight against the government policies in Gujarat, the report added.
Suspected Maoists on October 1, 2003, attempted to kill Naidu near Alipiri in Tirupati. The Maoists triggered a landmine explosion as the convoy of Naidu passed. The impact of the explosion overturned the car in which he was travelling. Naidu and others travelling in the car, survived the explosion with minor injuries.
In 2014, three people were found guilty by the Tirupati court for the assassination attempt and were sentenced to four years in jail