NEWS

Thirteen Naxalites traded for abducted AP cops

By Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
December 23, 2002 12:07 IST

Two cops abducted by the outlawed People's War were set free on Saturday night after the police released 13 Naxalite sympathisers from its custody in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.

Six persons including Takkellapadu sarpanch T Srinivasa Rao were released on Friday and the rest were released on Saturday.

The police also conceded the demand for withdrawal of police picket in Takkellapadu village.

The cops -- R Venkateswarlu and K Venkateswara Rao -- were released around 2230 hours (IST). The cops were blindfolded and made to trek a distance of 15 km to a road point. Then their blindfolds were removed and were told to take a right turn if they wanted to reach Karampudi village or the straight road if they wanted to proceed to Dachepalli, a police spokesman said.

The cops took the Dachepalli road and reached Chinnakodammagundla village around midnight.

After spending the night in the village school, they commandeered a jeep and got themselves dropped at Dachepalli police station at 0715 hours (IST) on Sunday morning.

During their captivity, they were frequently threatened with death since the police was killing innocent persons in "fake" encounters, they said.

They were taken to two different places during the 50-hour captivity.

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

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