Alluri Sitharama Raju District: In major news, Andhra Pradesh police arrested CPI (Maoist) Pedabayulu-Korukonda Area Committee secretary Vanthala Ramakrishna on Tuesday. He is said to be one of the prime accused involved in the September 2018 killing of two political leaders including the then sitting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kidari Sarveswara Rao, and Siveri Soma in Dumbriguda Mandal of Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district.

The police anti-Maoist operations team along with the Alluri Sitharama Raju district police arrested Vanthala Ramakrishna alias Prabhakar alias Ashok alias Goddali Rayudu on Tuesday.

The Deputy Inspector General of Visakhapatnam Range, S. Harikrishna, and Alluri Seetharama Raju district SP S. Sathish Kumar said the top Maoist leader Ramakrishna was arrested by the Pedabayalu police while he was proceeding from Kondrum village to Injari village under Pedabayalu mandal in the district.

Ramakrishna is a resident of Kondrum village and joined the outfit as a Dalam member, and party member and went on to become the area committee member, and area committee secretary.

He moved with the Maoist party cadres in Malkangiri and Koraput districts of Odisha, East Godavari, and ASR districts which lie in the Andhra Odisha Special Zonal Committee area (AOBSZC). He was involved in 124 cases and the government had announced a cash reward of Rs. 5 lakhs against him earlier. He was also involved in killing innocent tribal people by branding them as police informers.

The police seized Rs. 39 lakh cash, a landmine, five detonators, and a 9 mm pistol from Ramakrishna. As many as 60 members, including eight women, belonging to the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) Maoist organization surrendered before the police. Those who surrendered belonged to the Maoist-affected tribal villages of Kondrum, Thagupadu, Jumadam, Nanubari, and Jadiguda.

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