Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Naxals set off blast near police station

By Our Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR MAY 30. Outlawed People's War naxalites made a vain bid to attack the Mahadevpur police station, which is located in the interior forest area, 130 km from the district headquarters in the early hours of Friday.

However, eight civilians, a constable and another constable's wife sustained injuries due to the impact of the powerful explosion caused by triggering of directional mines, which were placed in an RTC bus.

Reports reaching here stated that the naxalites had booked an RTC bus from Manthani depot on May 23 on hire for organising a pilgrimage to the temple town of Kondagattu from interior Suraram village of Mahadevpur. The bus was booked in the fictitious name of Rami Reddy and Rs. 16,000 was paid to the RTC authorities.

Accordingly, on Thursday evening, the naxalites took the bus (AP 10Z 5994) from Manthani to Suraram along with the RTC crew — Krishna and Venkataiah.

After reaching Suraram village, they forced the driver to further proceed to the Rapallikota village stating that some other pilgrims would board the bus. After reaching the village outskirts in the forests, 40 armed naxalites took away the RTC crew to some other place and planted two tractor loads of explosive material in the RTC bus. The naxalites informed the RTC crew that the bus would be stationed at Mahadevpur, and asked them to collect it only in the morning. They wrote in the SR book that they were PW naxalites.

Later, the naxalites drove the bus to the Mahadevpur bus station, which is adjacent to the police station. All naxalites alighted at a distance from the police station and only one person drove the bus till the police station. When the bus was being parked in the vicinity of the police station, the APSP sentry, Ramulu, raised an alarm and the naxalites immediately took to their heels. But the sentry's opening fire alerted the entire staff. The mines, which were fixed to the timer, exploded causing some damage to the police station and adjoining buildings, shops and other offices, including a tribal welfare hostel.

The impact of explosive material was so powerful that the bus broke into smithereens. The constable, Sahadev, sustained head injuries and another constable's wife, Shoba, also received injuries. Besides, eight civilians who were sleeping in the vicinity sustained injuries. The injured have been shifted to the Warangal MGM hospital.

The police suspect the role of Karimnagar East district committee secretary, Ganesh alias Ravi, in the blast.

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