Days after the Warangal police arrested district Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) Secretary Penta Ramesh Chandar, accusing him of being a courier for Maoists, CLC has denied the allegations, and has accused the police of foisting false allegations on Ramesh because of his involvement in the civil liberties movement in the district.
According to the police, Ramesh was arrested on Saturday at 7pm during a vehicle check. However, CLC has alleged that this was a lie, and that Ramesh’s whereabouts were not known until Sunday.
Speaking to TNM, CLC state Vice President Raghunath said, “These allegations are absolutely false. Since he is actively participating in civil liberties movement in Warangal, cases are being foisted against him."
Ramesh is a resident of Venkateshwara colony of Beemaram area in the city, and a native of Shambunipalle in Kamalapur mandal. “On Saturday, Ramesh was forcibly taken out of his house and his laptop was taken. His whereabouts were not known till yesterday (Sunday),” Raghunath said. “Only after we approached the Home Minister on the issue, he was produced. They prepared false statements while producing him,” he added.
However, the police said that they were conducting vehicle checks – led by Inspector Sampath Rao – at Baby Sainik School on Gopalpur road, when they arrested Ramesh.
According to Additional DCP (crimes) and OSD Billa Ashok Kumar, when they approached the bike in which Ramesh and another person, Jabaali, were traveling, Jabaali jumped out of the vehicle and escaped.
During the inspection, the police said they seized Rs 5 lakh and revolutionary literature from the vehicle, along with two cell phones. Ashok Kumar said that they took Ramesh Chandar into custody under suspicion – and later found out that he was a courier of KKW (Karimnagar Khammam Warangal) Maoist party division secretary Damodar.
Billa Ashok said, “One month ago, Ramesh Chandar and Jabaali met Damodar in Pujarikanker forests. As per his orders, they took Rs 5 lakh from a contractor in Balasamudram and purchased a laptop and a cell phone, which were handed over to Damodar by Jabaali.”
“They were on their way to hand over money to Damodar, when Ramesh was arrested,” he added.
The police allege that Ramesh was a former member of the Radical Students’ Union – a wing of the People’s War Group – from 1990. Even after getting a job as an Assistant Statistical Officer in the government Revenue Department in 1994, Ramesh continued working with them during his postings at Elkaturti, Manthani and Kamalapur in Karimnagar district, the police allege.
They also said that he had been arrested in 2001, and continued to work with the then-Maoist Party Secretary Rama Krishna (RK) even after he came out on bail. Currently, Ramesh is working as a courier for Damodar, and collecting money from contractors and secretly giving it to Damodar, they alleged.
However, the Civil Liberties Committee alleged that police are trying to frame Ramesh.