2 held for making prank calls to minister’s aides

Srikakulam: Two persons were taken into custody in the town by police on Sunday for discussing among themselves over phone about threats to the life of Transport Minister K Atchannaidu. According to Superintendent of Police CM Trivikrama Varma, the arrested were identified as Murapaka Kalidasu Sharma of Parvathipuram in Vizianagaram district and Josyula Shankar Rao of Komatipeta village in Rayagada district of Odisha state.

Speaking to the media here on Sunday, he said that the duo has the habit of making phone calls to the followers of the political leaders and informing them that the lives of their leaders were in danger only to gain publicity and financial gain. In this connection, they chose Minister Atchannaidu as their target as he is very popular among north Andhra leaders.

They made some phones calls to his followers on September 28, 2017 and created a panic among his followers. They said that the mnister was facing a threat to his life from Maoists. Once again, on January 7 and 11, they made phone calls to his followers and also to a vernacular daily and repeated the threats.  Based on the calls, police registered three cases within the two police stations limits in Tekkali and Kotabommali.

They also found some explosives at Peddabammidi Road. The police came to the conclusion that the phone calls were being made from Kotabommali and Tekkali cell towers limits with a SIM-card registered with an address in Odisha. The accused got the SIM from one Jitendra Malik by stealing his cell phone as he is resident of Odisha. The Superintendent of Police lauded the efforts of Tekkali and Kotabommali police for arresting the accused in a matter of two days.