TDP MLA Sarveswara Rao Murder: How It Happened

Visakhapatnam: A group of Maoists rounded us up and took away the weapons of gunmen before taking MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma to a far-off place in a vehicle, an eye witness in the ghastly murder of the two Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, driver K Chitti Babu revealed. "Do you know how many irregularities the two leaders have committed?" the Maoists questioned us, Chitti Babu said.

The incident shook the Telugu States as the incident took place nearly 125 km from the city at Thutangi Village. Sarveswara Rao was elected in 2014, from the Araku constituency in the assembly as a YSR Congress party (YSRCP) candidate and later shifted to the TDP, along with the other 22 YSRCP MLAs who defected to the ruling party.

The MLA and former MLA were attending the 'Grama Darshini' program in the village, when the incident happened. "They warned of killing us if we tried to escape from them. They left us free after the sounds of gunshots were heard," the driver said.

In this regard, Visakhapatnam DIG Srikanth confirmed that the two leaders were killed by being shot from a close proximity. "At around 1 pm, the Maoists captured the leaders and took away the weapons from their gunmen. They divided themselves into two teams. The first team shot Somu to death and the second team killed the MLA later. The incident happened 15 km from Odisha border. The bodies have been shifted to the King George Hospital. An investigation is on," he said.

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