TUMAKURU: More than 14 years after a group of Naxalites attacked a KSRP camp at Venkatammanahalli village in Pavagada taluk in which seven people, including six KSRP men were killed, the accused No.12 in the case, noted Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, was taken into custody by the Karnataka police on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, he was produced before the Additional Civil Judge and JMFC court in Pavagada town.
After securing a body warrant from the Karnataka High Court, the state police brought Varavara Rao to Pavagada amid tight security from Yerawada jail in Pune where he is lodged in a case related to allegedly plotting to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tumakuru Superintendent of Police Dr Kona Vamsi Krishna said the court has granted two days custody of Varavara Rao for questioning.
No link to Pavagada attack: Varavara Rao
Through the day, noted Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao (78) was taken inside the court hall thrice three times and was allowed to rest in the police van.A lawyer who present in the court when Rao was produced before the judge, told TNIE that Rao claimed that he was lodged in Chanchalaguda jail when the Venkatammanahalli incident occurred and that he had nothing to do with it. He also raised the slogan of the revolutionary Telugu poets’ association of Andhra Pradesh, saying “Viplava Rachayitala Sangham Zindabad”.
On the intervening night of February 10 and 11 in the year 2005, a band of about 200 Naxalites attacked a KSRP battalion comprising about 30 personnel, who had been stationed at the village school to check Naxalism in the border taluk.
Police had arrested about 60 people while the others, including Varavara Rao, known to be a Naxal sympathiser, were absconding. A few years ago, almost all the Naxalites who had been chargesheeted by the police were acquitted by the district court.