Four top leaders of Communist Party of India (Maoist) were produced before a local court here today amid tight security.
Maoist leaders Amit Bagchi, Akhilesh Jadhav and Batchi Prasad Singh were produced in court from from the Warangal Central Prison whereas Jaspal Singh, alias Vijay Kumar Arya, was brought from the Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad, before Karimnagar First Class Additional Judicial Magistrate at about 1.30 pm today.
All of them are undertrial prisoners in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Duddilla Sripada Rao in 2009, in which top Maoist leader Muppala Laxman Rao, alias Ganapathi, as well as 32 others have also been named as accused.
Based on a confessional statement made by one of the accused Malla Raji Reddy, on January 1, 2008 at Karimnagar, the Karimnagar Rural Police registered a case of murder against Muppala Laxman Rao as well as 32 others including Kobad Ghandy, Varanasi Subrahmanyam, Janthu Mukherjee, Amit Bagchi, Jaspal Singh and Akhilesh Jadav who are held in various prisons.
Among those yet to be arrested are Muppala Laxman Rao, Akkiraju Haragopal and Cherukuri Rajkumar while another accused named Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, alias Kishanji, was killed in a police encounter in West Bengal's Jangal Mahal region on November 24, 2011.
Malla Raji Reddy, who made the confessional statement, was granted bail and has been absconding since then, while another Maoist leader Pramod Mishra was released on bail recently.
However, the police have not filed a charge sheet in this case so far.
Karimnagar Magistrate Azahar Hussain has directed the police to produce all those accused in the case before him on April 27, 2015.
