ASI, 6 others killed in clash, police firing at Penukonda

Injured include 23 police personnel

The uneasy calm that followed after the killing of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator Paritala Ravindra came to an early end with a bloody clash between the party workers and police, and a subsequent firing which claimed at least seven lives, including that of an assistant police sub-inspector (ASI) in Penukonda in the faction-ridden Anantapur district on Friday.

The state government squarely blamed the opposition party for the incident and claimed that police had to open fire in self defence when the mob tried to attack the police force as well as the office of the revenue divisional officer, who is acting as the returning officer for the Penukonda by-election.

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu termed it as a failure of the government and demanded judicial enquiry into the incident.

According to some reports, a verbal dual took place between the Telugu Desam followers, who came to participate in a rally on the eve of the filing of nomination of Ravindra's widow and Telugu Desam party candidate Paritala Sunitha for the by-election, and the police who were on a bandobast duty.

While Sunitha and other TDP leaders were busy performing a puja to a local deity, her followers started pelting stones on the police after an argument. When the lathicharge did not deter the surging mob from pelting stones on them, the police opened fire.

ASI Kullayappa and at least six civilians died in the clash and the subsequent firing, leaving several others including 24 police personnel seriously injured.

The incident created tensions in Penukonda and its nearby villages where TDP followers have torched more than a dozen government and private vehicles including a police jeep in protest against the police firing.

The injured include one deputy superintendent of police (DSP), one inspector, 2 sub-inspectors, 2 head constables and 17 police constables.

On receiving the information, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy instructed the home minister and director-general of police to rush to the spot and assess the situation. The state government has ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident.

Ravindra's murder in January this year has necessitated the by-election for the Penukonda Assembly constituency, which is scheduled to be held on June 16, 2005. Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy, who has factional rivalry with Ravindra, has allegedly masterminded the killing.

Addressing a press conference on the issue, chief minister said that the incident could not have happened had the leader of the opposition, Chandrababu Naidu, agreed to the government's proposal to keep both the families, who have been engaged in faction feuds against each other, away from elections.

"We denied ticket to the wife of Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy, whose family is known for its enmity with Ravindra, by bringing a backward caste candidate to the fore, while Naidu decided to field the widow of Paritala as TDP candidate despite our repeated requests against doing so," Rajasekhara Reddy said.

He also blamed the media for not bringing any moral pressure on the opposition with regard to ending the vexed faction problem in Anantapur.

The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has finalised the name of Sriramulu, a sarpanch of Guttur Gram Panchayat in Penukonda mandal as the party candidate. The party has denied ticket to Gangula Bhanumathi, wife of Suryanarayana Reddy.

Suryanarayana Reddy (Suri) has allegedly masterminded the killing of Ravindra to avenge the death of his family members in a bomb attack allegedly plotted by the former. Suri, convicted in an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Ravindra in the past, which claimed over 20 lives, is currently serving his life sentence.