The Bellary police on Thursday arrested five Naxalites who had threatened and demanded ransom from managing director of Oballapuram Mining Company (OMC) BV Srinivasa Reddy. They were arrested from Tirupati.
The arrested ultras have been identified as Rapaku Sriramulu, 42, Raju, 20, Rapaku Yakanna, 20, Yakanna, 20, all residents of Badlalda village in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh and P Chadrapal, 43, a native of Bulugu village from the same state.
The police said Takanna was a second PUC student and Chandrapal was housing board corporation inspector in Andhra Pradesh. Sriramulu, the leader of the gang, was the brain behind the plan to threaten Reddy. Sriramulu, the police said, was an associate of former naxalite Eesham Sriramulu and was in contact with him.
According to the police, the gang made a call to Reddy for the first time on April 14 and demanded ransom.
They threatened that he would be killed if the ransom was not paid. The gang had set its sight on Reddy a year ago when its members visited OMC office demanding the ransom.
However, it was only a month ago when they wrote to Reddy, threatening and demanding the ransom amount.
The Naxalites made repeated calls to Reddy till April 21. Reddy filed a complaint in Cowl Bazar police station, Bellary, on April 22.
The police seized more than 70 cheques out of which six were filled. The filled in cheques amounted to Rs23.4 lakh. One car, Rs2,100 in cash,and rubber stamps were also seized from the gang.
The police said the gang was involved in Naxal activities for the past 10 years.
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