Maoist leader Kunti Kotappagiri Krishnappa alias Saketh alias Damodhar (39), who was arrested along with his wife at Bagalagunte in Bangalore on Wednesday, was allegedly involved in the landmine blast near Tirupati in October 2003 in which Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu was injured.
Suspected Maoists had exploded improvised claymore mines targeting Naidu’s motorcade on the Tirumala Ghat road, off Alipiri, on October 1, 2003, and he had suffered fractures on his right hand and collar bone.
According to the Andhra Pradesh police, Krishnappa, who had been underground since 1998, has now confessed that while working in Nallamala area, he was among the Maoists who carried out the Alipiri blast (2003), the attack on Yerragondapalem police station (2002), the bank dacoity in Srisailam (2001), the attack on Sunnipenta police station (2001) and the Veerabhadrapuram famine raid (2002) among other crimes.
Krishnappa and his wife Atmakuri Bhavani alias Girija alias Laxmi were arrested by the Tirupati Urban police in the early hours of Wednesday from their rented house in Bagalagunte in Peenya police station limits. Krishnappa worked as a construction worker while his wife was employed in a garment factory in Peenya, police sources said.
Krishnappa is a native of Gunipalli village in Bukkapatnam mandal of Anantapur district while his wife hails from Timmayapalem village in Marripadu mandal of Nellore district. Krishnappa was active in Nallamala dalam between 1998 and 2002. He worked as deputy commander in Palavanka dalam.
Later, he became the district committee member and maintained dens in various cities, along with his wife Bhavani. He harboured and assisted members of central and state committees of CPI (Maoists).
Bhavani was Nellore district Area Committee member and had been underground since 1999. Krishnappa carried a cash reward of Rs five lakh and Bhavani Rs four lakh. They were remanded in judicial custody in Tirupati, according to the Andhra Pradesh police.
Meanwhile, sources in Bangalore police said on Thursday that they would get the details of the duo from the Andhra Pradesh police and then investigate whether they had carried out any illegal activities during their stay in Bangalore in the last five or six years.
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