Probe ordered into Khammam firing

The Andhra Pradesh government has announced a judicial probe into the police firing that took place at Mudigonda in Khammam district on Saturday, killing six people on the spot and leaving two others in critical condition.

The government has also announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia and a government job to each of the families of the deceased.

Three police officers, including the additional superintendent of police who had ordered the firing at the CPI(M) activists, have been suspended besides transferring the district superintendent of police.

The police reportedly fired at the agitators, who resorted to stone-pelting at them during road blockade as part of a state-wide bandh call given by the CPI(M) and the CPI.

The bodies of the deceased, which the agitators refused to remove from the Collectorate office, have been shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem following the Left parties' activists today calling off their sit-in after Chief Minister Y Rajasekhar Reddy announced the ex-gratia, jobs and land for the victims' families.

Visits of leaders belonging to various parties, including former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, to the spot of firing this morning saw spontaneous rallies at Mudigonda.

All the non-Congress parties, including the Telugu Desam, which actively supported the Left-sponsored bandh, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the BJP, have condemned the police firing besides demanding the CM's resignation.

Meanwhile, senior Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and Gurudas Dasgupta took part in a rally organised against the police firing in Hyderabad on Sunday.