Hyderabad: Police on Monday took into custody at least 20 sympathisers of Maoists, including two representatives of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), at the Central Bus Station (CBS) here. The two APCLC representatives, Narayana Rao and Hanumantha Rao, and the 18 others were shifted to Afzalgunj police station.
The assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Sultan Bazar division, D Someswar told Express that they took at least 20 persons, said to be sympathisers of Maoists, at the CBS bus station on Monday. “We took six girls, five boys, seven men and two APCLC representatives into our custody. They are accused of canvassing for Maoists in tribal areas,” the ACP said.
On a tip-off, police personnel reached the CBS around 3 am on Monday and lay in wait. As the 18 sympathisers arrived at the bus stand, from Bijapur in Chhattishgarh, they took them into custody. Narayana Rao and Hanumantha Rao went to the CBS to receive them, Someswar said.
Meanwhile, revolutionary poet Varavara Rao demanded that the state government release all the 20 persons. He told Express that all of them had come to the city to attend a Virasam meeting. “The Virasam meeting was held on Sunday. However, because of some confusion regarding the date of the meet they arrived on Monday,” he said.
He said the Council for Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) is conducting meetings across the nation in association with the various human rights associations on fake encounters. “The 18 persons came from Bijapur in Chhattisgarh to appear before the fact-finding committee on encounters. APCLC leaders Narayana Rao and Hanumantha Rao went to the CBS to receive them. The leaders are supposed to go to Raipur to attend a meeting on Tuesday,” Varavara Rao said.
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