A day after Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA of the same constituency Siveri Soma were shot dead by Maoists on Sunday afternoon, questions remain over their visit to Sarai village in Dumbriguda mandal in Visakhapatanam district of Andhra Pradesh without proper protection.
Sarai, which is close to the Andhra-Odisha border, is a hotbed of Maoist activity.
Rao and Soma were waylaid at Livitiput village and killed.
Weak explanation
The explanation given by the authorities that he was on his way to attend ‘Grama Darsini’ does not hold water, as the programme is not held on Sundays. Also, he was not accompanied by officials concerned.
Whenever Rao visited a village for a meeting, he used to carry saris for distribution, but in this instance no stock was found in the cars.
There were allegations that both Rao and Soma owned some benami quarries at Godda in Hukumpeta Mandal and at Araku and there were a lot of issues with the Girijans, who were demanding the closure of the mines as they were contaminating the water sources. The Girijans had been in the agitation mode for the past three months and Maoists had openly warned the duo.
According to sources, Rao called Soma on Saturday night and asked the latter to accompany him.
According to a close friend of Soma, on Sunday at 10.30 a.m, an assistant of Soma called up Dumbriguda SI Y. Aman Rao and informed him of their travel plan, which the police deny.
The MLA, with his two PSOs, and Soma, with one PSO, and a few followers started from Araku around 11 a.m.
When they neared Livitiput, they were surrounded by about 25 Maoists of the Nandapur dalam, led by Aruna.
PSOs relieved of weapons
After forcing them to come out of their vehicles, the Maoists relieved the PSOs of their weapons. Both the leaders were taken about 50 paces ahead and after a discussion for about 40 minutes, they were reportedly shot dead.
According to the forensic team at the site, Soma was apparently shot after he died or became unconscious, as the bullet passed through the skull and pierced the hard black-top road.
To keep security forces at bay, the Maoists placed two landmines on the road, which they took away after the mission was accomplished.
Dumbriguda is one mandal where there had been not much of Maoist activity in the past one decade, and probably this made both the security forces and the leaders complacent.
According to intelligence sources, about 40 Maoists were seen close to the AOB border of Dumbriguda on September 18 and 19. They were being led by Chalapathi, husband of Aruna.
According to an officer from the intelligence wing, Chalapathi may have conducted a recce and organised the plan, said the officer.
Locals and some senior police officers say that the Maoist team could have slipped close to the village at least a day before the attack, and returned to Odisha.
Deserted village
The stretch of the road before Livitiput is in a bad shape. Moreover, the village has about 16 households and all are Christians, who attend the Sunday service at a church in Araku. So practically, the village is deserted from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is almost the last village with cell connectivity in the region.
According to Soma’s driver, he had to stop the vehicle when about 25 gun-toting men and women sprang up from nowhere. Also, the PSOs did not have time to react.
Had the plan failed, Maoists might have targeted the MLA on September 28, when he was scheduled to travel to Rohtangi village in the Munchingput mandal.
