VIJAYAWADA: Following the directions of Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started investigation into the killing of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma. A group of CPI (Maoist) cadres rounded up the two TDP leaders near Livitiputtu village under Dumbriguda police station limits, while they were on their way to attend ‘Grama Darshini’ in Sarai village on September 23 and shot them dead.
Taking the incident seriously, the MHA issued orders to transfer the case to the NIA-Hyderabad on December 6. Subsequently, the NIA officials filed a case under Sections 120B, 147, 148, 302, 342, 353, 397, r/w 149 of IPC, 25 & 27 of Arms Act and Section 16, 18 & 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
It is believed that NIA sleuths reportedly took four suspects into custody. On November 19, Vishakhapatnam police had arrested four suspected Maoists — Yedala Subba Rao (45), Gemmeli Sobhan (32), Yedela Eswari (34) and Korra Kamala (35). However, it is yet to be confirmed that the four suspects under NIA’s custody are the ones who were arrested by Visakhapatnam rural police.
When contacted, Director General of Police (DGP) RP Thakur said NIA officials sent an official letter seeking the State police to hand over the case to them and they accepted it. “It’s the decision of MHA. State police will help and share the information regarding the case with the NIA, if needed,” the DGP said. “We have arrested four persons within two weeks after the incident. We conducted combing operations in the forest areas. Since the NIA has a strong force to take up such cases related to the safety of the country, we handed over the case to the NIA,” Thakur said.