Andhra Pradesh - Ongole   

Relatives run from pillar to post to receive bodies

Special Correspondent

Court orders post-mortem of bodies in Guntur hospital

ONGOLE: The police on Tuesday identified three more naxals, who were killed in the encounter in Nallamala forest in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as Rama, area commander, Nagamani, dalam member, and Eswar, courier of Ramakrishna. With this, seven out of eight victims of the encounter have been identified.

The bodies are expected to be brought to Yerragondapalem from where they would be taken for post-mortem examination to the Guntur General Hospital in compliance with the Andhra Pradesh High Court's orders. Dealing with a writ petition filed by the AP Civil Liberties Committee, the court directed the Government to conduct post-mortem under the supervision of forensic experts and to transport the bodies of the slain naxals to their respective native places.

Relatives of the naxalites ran from pillar to post to receive the bodies. Bandhu Mitrula Sangham leader Padma brought them in three vehicles to Markapur where the police said the post-mortem would be conducted at Ongole.

On reaching Ongole, they were informed about High Court directive and hurriedly left for Guntur.

Padma criticised the police for misleading the relatives and for delaying the shifting of bodies, making their identification difficult. Relatives raised slogans of "Amara veerulaku johar" and held the police responsible for fake encounters.

Kanakaiah, brother of Madhav, the slain State secretary of the CPI (Maoist), and the latter's son were among those who had to go round Markapur and Ongole and then to Guntur to receive the bodies. Kanakaiah told presspersons that apart from Madhav, he had two brothers. Each of them had five acres as inherited property.

Madhav worked as a toddy-tapper till he was 25. He had arranged marriage with Vasantha. He said the family had no Communist background. He did not know how Madhav was drawn into extremist movement.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

List of NHM beneficiaries sought
Eviction move triggers protest
Relatives run from pillar to post to receive bodies

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu