The law enforcing agencies are on high alert in the wake of forays being made by Maoists in the State, and in Vijayawada. Though the police said that the situation was not alarming, they took serious cognisance of a letter purportedly released by the CPI (Maoist) threatening that it would punish the call money-sex racketeers in a praja court .
They are on look out for the person who dropped the threatening letter at the time offices of print and electronic media.
The police initially asserted that the letter was indeed a “fake one”. They averred that there was no CPI (Maoist) Andhra Pradesh Committee. But, a top cop on Thursday agreed that the Andhra Pradesh Committee did exist in the State. But, their activities were limited. The letter seems to be a desperate attempt to prove that they (Maoists) exist in the State. It could also be an attempt for extortion, felt a senior police officer.
The top cop negated with the arguments that the letter did not originate from Maoists as it targeted only the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders while many leaders from other parties were also allegedly involved in call money episode. They (Maoists) generally target the ruling party. Their ideology was anti-establishment. So, there was nothing surprising if they had left out Opposition party names, he elucidated.
The State police found that the Maoist activities were going on four districts that are located on borders of other States. Following suggestion from the police department, the government sanctioned Chintoor Sub Division to tackle the extremist activities. Merger of seven mandals from Khammam district of Telangana State with East and West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh has apparently spurted the extremist activities as “there is no vigil.”
The Telangana State abruptly withdrew the forces from those mandals. And this came in handy for the extremist forces. The TS police decision was detrimental for Telangana also as it would help the extremists in recouping, the police officer said.
The police arrested 96 extremists in 2015 and seized 27 weapons. The Maoists committed 24 offences, including murder of four civilians. These offences took place in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. Two Maoists were killed in 13 exchanges of fire in 2015.
“The letter seems to be a desperate attempt to prove that they (Maoists) exist in the State. It could also be an attempt for extortion.”
