VIJAYAWADA: A week after group clash over land settlement which claimed life of one, Vijayawada police on Friday arrested 13 persons involved in the incident. Addressing the media here on Friday, Vijayawada Commissioner of Police Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said that all the 13 accused were arrested based on CCTV footage and are under 25 years of age. While most of them are residents of Patamata and Yanamalakuduru, a few persons from Guntur were also involved in the clash.
The arrested were identified as Repalle Prasanth (19), Aakula Raviteja (22), Pandha Prem Kumar (22), Pandha Prabhu Kumar (20), Banavathu Srinu Naik (29), Lankapalli Venkatesh (21), Boori Bhaskara Rao (20), Pratap Sai (24), Ponnada Sai (21), Sirra Santosh (22), Yarra Tirupathi Rao (22), Oruganti Durga Prasad (19) and Oruganti Ajay (20). They reportedly gathered at the spot on the request of Thota Sandeep and Koduri Manikanta alias Pandu.
The Commissioner explained that the two groups headed by Thota Sandeep and Manikanta are once friends but they separated over political affiliations and land disputes. The seven cents of land worth around Rs2 crore in Yanamalakuduru was believed to be the reason behind the clash. In 2018, Pradeep Reddy of Yanamalakuduru and Dhanekula Sridhar started construction of a group house in the land in question at Yanamalakuduru.
When disputes arose over investment between Pradeep and Sridhar in the construction, Pradeep approached one Battu Nagababu who further called Sandeep and Manikanta for discussion. For involving in land settlement, Sandeep abused Manikanta and went to his home on May 29 and warned his mother (Manikanta’s mother). In a fit of rage, Manikanta created ruckus at Sandeep’s shop on May 30.
"On the same day, both Sandeep and Manikanta attacked each other in a vacant land near Grace Church. Sandeep and Manikanta suffered injuries in the attack. Sandeep died while undergoing treatment in the hospital and Manikanta was shifted to Guntur government general hospital for security reasons," said Tirumala Rao. Six investigation teams headed by DCP (L&O-I) Harshavardhan Raja were formed to identify the accused and seize weapons used in the clash, he maintained.