The area committee member (ACM) of Korukonda of the banned CPI (Maoist), Kora Nageswara Rao, released a video on Tuesday condemning the allegations levelled against him by the police that he had taken ₹27 lakh from a contractor for building a house in his village Jillelabanda in Balapam panchayat of Chintapalli mandal in Visakha agency.
He alleged the police were indulging in false propaganda to defame him and gain ground in the interior parts of AOB.
The charges were baseless. He didn’t own a house in his village and this was earlier clarified by him and his wife to the media, he said.
He also issued a press note stating that the police were forcing people to take part in volleyball tournaments under the pretext of community policing and development.
According to him, the police were spreading false news that the Maoists were against development in the tribal areas and were against building of schools and health infrastructure. “We never opposed such moves,” he said.
Police outreach
Nageswara Rao’s media interaction was a fallout of the recent Police Community Reach programme at Cheruvuru, a village in Balapam panchayat close to Jillelabanda.
This was for the first time that the police made deep inroads into the Maoist stronghold to hold a volleyball tournament, and this seemed to have upset the Maoists, especially Nageswara Rao as he considered it to be his stronghold, said Chintapalli ASP Vidya Sagar Naidu.
The police laid a road overnight to Cheruvuru and this facilitated movement of an ambulance to the remote village for the first time. Over 1,500 people, including 40 teams from various interior villages, had participated in the day-long event.
It was at this event that OSD Satish Kumar and ASP Naidu had mentioned of Nageswara and his key man Bonda Prasad taking money from the contractor.
Surrender of cadre
In the last couple of months, over 15 Maoists and milita members, both from Galikonda Area Committee and Korukonda Area Committee had either surrendered or were arrested.
Among them were Gemmeli Kamesh alias Hari, ACM of Galikonda, and key militia members such as Bonangi Nageswara Rao and Keshav, son of Gemmeli Narayan Rao alias Jambri.
Nageswara Rao, in his statement, also said that Bonangi Nageswara Rao had no links with the party but the police were harassing him.
