After a long time, Telangana has witnessed Maoist-related violence. On Friday, N. Srinivas, a Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) member of the ruling TRS party, was killed by the left extremists. His body, along with his bike, was found between Errapadu and Puttapdu villages on Telangana- Chhattisgarh border. A letter from Cherla-Shabari area committee was also found near his body.
Srinivas was abducted by the Maoists on July 8 from his village, Kothur, and since then he has been in the custody of the extremists. Through the letter, signed by Sharada, one of the local woman commanders, the Maoists alleged that Srinivas was an ‘informer’ who was actively working with the police and creating differences between the Maoists and the tribals.
After he was kidnapped, around 200 villagers have been learnt to have crossed over to Chhattisgarh in order to negotiate with the Maoists. The ultras, however, sent them back saying that Srinivas would be released soon. Later, a team of local media persons also tried to contact Maoist leader Sodi Jagaiah, but was asked to leave their area. While returning, they found the body of Srinivas.
His body was brought back home by the villagers. According to locals, Srinivas was a farmer who used to take agricultural lands on lease. According to Maoists, he had grabbed agricultural land upto 70 acres from tribals.
He was warned couple of times by the Maoists but was never physically harmed.
According to SP of Bhadradri district, Sunil Dutt, the body of Srinivas was found just inside Sukma district of Chhattisgarh. The police teams have not reached the spot as it is in the interiors. Dutt said they had requested Srinivas's family to hand over the body for post-mortem. He also said that Srinivas was a farmer and was on good terms with local tribals.
“The Maoists have run out of money and resources. They have been resorting to extortion for sometime. They did the same with Srinivas and killed him cruelly when they couldn’t get any money. The Maoists want to instill fear among the local villagers. We will take action at appropriate time,” Dutt further said.
It is still not clear if Srinivas was shot or hacked to death.
