Sridhar Babus aide shot by Maoists

KARIMNAGAR: Former sarpanch G Venkataswamy (35) was shot, while his brother and former MPTC Chinnanna (27) was beaten up by Maoists during the praja court conducted in the interior village of Muknoor in Mahadevpur mandal of Karimnagar district late on Wednesday night. The condition of Venkataswamy is critical and he is undergoing treatment at Osmania general hospital in Hyderabad.According to police, about 15 armed Maoists came to Muknoor village, which is close to both Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh borders, on Wednesday. Around midnight, they summoned Venkataswamy and Chinnanna, who are followers of civil supplies minister D Sridhar Babu, to the praja court and warned them to stop working for the ruling party.They dragged Chinnanna and beat him, and when Venkataswamy tried to escape, the Maoists started firing, injuring him severely. He received a bullet wound in the stomach. The Maoists left the spot telling the brothers to retire from politics. They also warned the villagers against working as police informers. Then, they went towards Chhattisgarh by crossing Godavari river.Venkataswamy was rushed to a local hospital and was shifted to MGM hospital in Warangal early on Thursday morning. Later, he was shifted to Hyderabad on the advise of doctors. Chinnanna is undergoing treatment at Godavarikhani area hospital.Karimnagar superintendent of police V Ravinder told Express that the police had sounded a high alert in the district and increased the security cover for people's representatives. The police suspect that armed extremists belonging to the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal (KKW) group might have been involved in the incident. About eight months ago, Maoists set ablaze the machinery deployed for the construction of Devadula lift irrigation project.