Hyderabad: Visakhapatnam police has achieved a major breakthrough in its investigation in the killing of two Telugu Desam Party leaders, including MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) Kadiri Sarveshwara Rao, on Sunday.
The probe teams have managed to secure the footage of how the women naxals stopped the car of the MLA and his associate former MLA Siveri Soma and killed the two, after which they went into the jungle.
From footage, police could identify at least two squad members — Jalamuri Shrini Babu alias Rhino of East Godavari and Kameshwari alias Sindri of West Godavari.
“This has helped us in intensifying the search for the killers”, said a police official.
Six teams of police are combing the forest area on Andhra-Odisha border.
From the footage, police have gathered that on the road to Livittiputtu a group of women stopped the Rao’s car and he stopped the vehicle under the impression that they had come to air some grievances. But when he realised that some of the women were armed, he asked the driver to drive away. But the armed women came in the way and stopped the vehicle, dragging the occupants away.
Visakhapatnam rural SP Rahul Dev Sharma said that one of the women was Aruna, area committee leader who carried a bounty of Rs500,000 in the group.
What has caught the attention of the probe team is that in the footage one Maoist was seen speaking on a gadget with an antenna, raising suspicions that the Maoists might have used satellite phones as there was no cellular signal in the area.
Police officials believe that a network of agents and human intelligence was used by the ultras to monitor the moment of the MLA through the forest area.
Police officials and the people in the area suspect that with the anniversary of the formation of outlawed CPI Maoist party and the elections approaching, the Maoists will step up their attacks.
The search and combing operation has picked up the par with the state intelligence chief AB Venkateshwara Rao. He personally went to the spot where the MLA was killed in forest area.
Meanwhile, the state government will be paying a compensation of Rs4.2 million to MLA Rao’s family. Under the norms of the state government, a family member holding graduation or higher degree will be given a government job equivalent to the deputy collector’s post.
Officials said that the family of former MLA Soma will get a compensation of Rs1.2 million on the lines of the families of any other victims of Maoist violence.
