The densely populated suburb of Yapral in Secunderabad witnessed tension on Tuesday after the Jawaharnagar police arrested 9 people for trying to install a statue of Maoist 'martyr' K Prabhakar.
Communist Party of India (Maoist) activist Prabhakar was among the 28 killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in the Bejjangi forest in Odisha's Malkangiri district last year.
"There are a few Maoist members and sympathisers living in Jawaharnagar, but there have been no open activities of them. We are keeping a close vigil on such elements. On Monday, family members and sympathisers of Prabhakar tried to install his statute but could not get GHMC permission. However, they went ahead by digging a pit and tried to construct a pedestal on government land at Kinda Basti in Yapral. Following information from locals, we rushed to the spot and arrested them," Jawaharnagar inspector T S Umamaheswara Rao told the Times of India.
A case was booked for criminal trespass, rioting, mischief causing damage to government property and also under Prevention of Damage of Public Property Act, the TOI report adds.
Prabhakar was born into a poor family of Dalits in Yapral, and his father Anjayya was a mason, while his mother Rathnamma was an agricultural labourer.
Joining Praja Kala Mandali (PKM) at a young age, Prabhakar was a district secretary of the PKM by 2002 and was later appointed the state secretary for (unified) Andhra Pradesh in 2007.
However, it was after Telangana was bifurcated that Prabhakar decided to go underground and join the CPI (Maoist), his family.
In 2014, he was disillusioned by the new state government, and told his close associates that he saw no change, especially to the adivasis, after bifurcation.