Previous CM denied permission to arrest Nayeem, says former Andhra DGP

Denying any links with renegade Maoist and gangster Nayeem, who was gunned down by police on August 8, former Andhra Pradesh police chief V Dinesh Reddy on Saturday said that he wants to share some sensitive information with the Telangana Chief Minister.

The former DGP told reporters that he has sought an appointment with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to share some sensitive information so that he can pass on the same to the SIT, probing Nayeem's alleged links with some politicians and police officers.

Dinesh Reddy admitted that it is common for police to use surrendered Maoists as their informers. He, however, clarified that he never met Nayeem as lower rank policemen and not a DGP level officer will handle such people.

Nayeem, who was killed by police in an alleged exchange of fire with police in Shadnagar town near Hyderabad, was allegedly used by police to kill Maoists and their sympathisers. 

He had turned a gangster after coming out of the fold of then People's War Group (PWG) and used his links with some politicians and police officers for his criminal activities for nearly two decades.

Dinesh Reddy, who was DGP of undivided Andhra Pradesh till September, 2013, said he salutes Chandrasekhar Rao for taking action against Nayeem.

He claimed that he had directed then Deputy Inspector General to arrest Nayeem but no political clearance was given for the same.

The Times of India reported that the DGP had also issued a memo to the Special Intelligence Branch but then chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy did not give his permission.

"SIB could not do it as they did not get clearance. I congratulated the Telangana CM because he directed the police for the operation. We could not get permission from the CM during our time," Dinesh Reddy told TOI.

The report also adds that Dinesh did not explain the reasons for the then CM not issuing clearance, saying that he "does not want to wash dirty linen in public." 

Dinesh Reddy, now a leader of BJP, said politicians and police officers who abetted Nayeem in his criminal activities should be punished. 

He hoped that SIT would conduct the investigations in an impartial manner and take the action.

The former police chief, however, said innocents should not be implicated in the case.

PTI inputs