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Naidu shaken by minister's murder

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Ever since the killing of three central committee members of the outlawed People's War Group in an alleged encounter with the police on December 2 last year, the top police brass and Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu had anticipated retaliatory attacks by the Naxalites but did not know who could be the first prime target of the extremists.

In view of the increased threat perception to the chief minister, Home Minister T Devender Goud and Panchayat Raj Minister A Madhava Reddy, the police had tightened the security arrangements for them.

Known to be on the hit-list of the PWG for the spate of encounter killings of the extremists during his four-year-long stint as home minister, Madhava Reddy was provided "Z" plus security cover, comprising a total of 22 policemen headed by a personal security officer of the rank of inspector. In terms of security cover, Madhava Reddy came next to the chief minister and Home Minister Devender Goud.

Despite the serious threat he faced, Madhava Reddy not only kept up his tirade against the Naxalites in his home district -- Nalgonda -- but also frequented the Naxalite-infested areas on his official visits.

He had a premonition that he would meet a violent death but this did not deter him from undertaking extensive campaigning for the civic elections slated for Thursday.

After its three top leaders -- Nalla Adi Reddy, Yerram Reddy Santosh Reddy and Seelam Naresh -- were killed by the police in an alleged encounter in the Koyyur forest area in Karimnagar district on December 2, the PWG had vowed to avenge the killings.

The PWG had termed the killing of its top leaders as "extra-judicial massacre by the Chandrababu Naidu government in league with the BJP government at the Centre."

In its reaction to the encounter killings, the PWG had contended that the trio were picked up by the AP police at Bangalore on December 1 and later killed in a "fake encounter" in Karimnagar district the next day.

The PWG alleged that the three central organising committee members -- Nalla Adi Reddy, Yerram Reddy Santosh Reddy and Seelam Naresh -- were taken into custody by the police, tortured and killed and their bodies were dumped later in the Koyyur forest to concoct the story of their killing in an "encounter" with the police.

The police officials, while being apprehensive about "dramatic retaliatory attacks" by the PWG against politicians and policemen, had the nagging suspicion that the extremists might target "somebody big enough" to avenge the killing of the three PWG members, who were considered equivalent to ministers in its hierarchy.

"An eye for an eye has been the philosophy of the Naxalites. Every time an important functionary of the PWG was killed, the militant organisation retaliated by killing a politician or a senior police official. Thus, they killed politicians like Magunta Subbarami Reddy, T Hayagrivachary, D Sripada Rao, Palvai Purushottam Rao and IPS officials like K S Vyas, G Pardesi Naidu and Ch Umesh Chandra.

Though the VIP security wing was strengthened with more people, better weaponry and sophisticated equipment for detecting landmines and bombs, there has always been an element of complacency in the security setup for the ministers and other politicians on the hit-list of the Naxalites.

The politicians and police officers killed by the Naxalites invariably died with their security personnel as, in every instance, the extremists took them by surprise.

The case with Madhava Reddy was also no different. The police officials, who rushed to the scene of the landmine explosion that claimed the life of Madhava Reddy, his car driver and his personal security officer, have indicated that the landmine near the newly built Ghatkesar overbridge could have been laid quite sometime ago.

They also reportedly recovered another unexploded landmine from near the scene of the incident. This only shows how casually the police went about the task of detecting landmines on the routes taken by the VIPs.

The precision with which the Naxalites struck is quite stunning. Both the pilot and escort vehicles accompanying the minister were ahead of the car in which he was travelling.

They had a miraculous escape while the minister's newly-acquired Qualis became their target. All this happened in pitch darkness at the railway overbridge when the minister's driver switched off the head light and slowed down the vehicle as the road leading to the overbridge was in a bad shape.

The minister's killing also serves as a warning from the outlawed organisation to Chandrababu Naidu and Devender Goud for the "indiscriminate killings of Naxalites in fake encounters."

Notwithstanding his bravado and tirade against the PWG, Chandrababu Naidu has been thoroughly shaken by the killing of his ministerial colleague and close confidant. He broke down when informed about the death of Madhava Reddy and said, "I did not think this would happen even in my dreams."

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