Six pseudonaxals held

Warangal: The police busted a six-member pseudo naxal gang that has been resorting to extortions and robbing the people at gunpoint. It may be recalled here that the gang robbed Rs 6.7 lakh from the two employees of a wine shop when they were heading to Palakurthy on the night of January 15. The gang fired two rounds into air with a country-made gun (Thapancha) to threaten the employees.

Later, they ran away with the money bag. Following the incident, the police formed special teams to nab the culprits. Against this backdrop, the police arrested Islavath Shankar, Naraboina Mallesh, Gangapuram Swamy, Pittala Srinivas, Chiluri Paramesh, and Saripangi Viplav and seized three country-made guns, 10 rounds of ammunition, Rs 5.56 lakh in cash and 11 mobile phones.

Speaking to the media persons here on Wednesday, Warangal Commissioner of Police V Ravinder said one of the accused Islavath Shankar, who previously had links with the naxals, had formed a gang and procured arms to extort money from people. The gang plotted to rob a wine shop on the night of December 31 when the liquor sales are on a high.

However, they had to call off the plan as there were too many people on the roads and the wine shop owners took time to come out of the shops. Later, they planned to rob the employees of Tirumala wines at Ramannagudem in Kodakandla.

While one of the gang members surveyed the wine shop, the others waited outside the village. When the employees started from the wine shop towards Palakurthy, the gang member waiting outside the shop alerted the rest of the gang.

Posing as naxals, they threatened and took away the money from them. On a tip-off, the police detained Islavath Shankar, Mallesham and Swamy at Cheruvumundu thanda. The other three members were also arrested at Chennur village.