Forty-eight hours after the sensational murder of former Maoist leader Ganti Prasadam, Andhra Police remain clueless about the culprits. However, officials suspect the role of professional killers in the murder.
They also suspect that Prasadam had personal grudges with the revolutionary groups after leaving the Maoist fold in the state.
The honorary president of Amaraveerula andhumitrula Sangham was cremated in his hometown of Bobbili, near Vizianagaram on Saturday.
Police have collected some country-made revolver bullet shelves which the iscreants used for firing at the former Maoist leader, apart from a large sickle, from the crime scene.
The three special police teams formed to nab the culprits inspected the entry and exit registers at the toll gates on NH-5 stretch from Venkatachalam to Tada on suspicion that the killers might have fled to Chennai. Registration numbers of vehicles which moved on the stretch towards Chennai between 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm on Thursday are also being checked.
“Though it is a challenging task for the department to nab the killers since outsiders were involved, we are confident of arresting them very soon,” SP P V S Ramakrishna told ‘Express’.
However, there is another version to the murder that points fingers at the police. The revolutionary was eliminated by the police in retaliation to the recent killing of police officers in Chhattisgarh by Maoists, said a member of the Revolutionary Writers’ Association (RWA) of Mannagi Dinne village in Alluru mandal, on the condition of anonymity.
He said a special police party from Chhattisgarh might have executed the murder with the help of local policemen.
It may be recalled that Prasadam, a close aide to top Maoist leader Ramakrishna, was accused of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate Prakasam DSP Mahesh Chandra Laddha. It was suspected that he had spent some days in Nellore at the time.
It is also learnt that Prasadam was a frequent visitor to Nellore as he had links with revolutionary party leaders of the district for over four decades.
However, his widow Kameswari, who arrived here on Friday to receive the body of her husband, said the murder could be the handiwork of Greyhounds or Chhattisgarh police.