VIJAYAWADA: The Thullur police on Sunday arrested seven persons in connection with the attack on media persons at Uddandarayunipalem on December 27 while covering the silent protest led by BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana.
Police identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage, body-worn cameras and footage provided by the media and arrested them, said Guntur Rural SP Ch Vijaya Rao. The arrested were identified as Gogulapati Narendra (36) of Venkatapalem, Prathipati Srinivasa Rao (46) and Alla Siva Babu (21) of Venkatapalem, Bandaru Nagaraju (30) and Danasari Naresh (30) of Modulinayapalem, Bhukya Loka Nayak (59) of Velagapudi and Ramineni Narasimha Swamy of Nekkalu village.
“A total of 35 persons are found to have been involved in the attack. We are also identifying the others and will arrest them as early as possible,” the rural SP said. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, DGP Gautam Sawang said the capital region farmers were being provoked to carry out agitations and create law and order problems. He said the issue came to their notice and requested villagers to stage protests in a peaceful manner. “In a democratic society, everyone has right to express his/her dissent. In the guise of farmers, anti-social elements are entering the villages and creating tension by provocating them,” he said. He said as many as 12 cases have been registered so far against the agitators for creating troubles.