Naxals set houses ablaze in Karimnagar

HYDERABAD, DEC 22: Naxalites of the outlawed People’s War Group attacked three houses including one belonging to a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in separate incidents in Naxal-infested Karimnagar even as a Naxalite couple surrendered before the police in the last 24 hours.

Police said ultras of Huzurabad Dalam went to the house of M Raji Reddy, a former sarpanch of Raikal village belonging to the BJP, and set it afire after asking the inmates to vacate it.The house of an advocate, B Krishna Rao, at Raginidu village in the district was blasted by ultras of Pedapally Dalam and in another incident. In adjoining Apanapet village, a group of ultras set ablaze a house owned by Mandala Raji Reddy, a landlord, police said adding that no one was injured or attacked in the incidents.

The incidents, which occurred Tuesday night, were described by the police as `retaliatory acts’ by Naxalites against the killing of three top PWG leaders in a `fake encounter’ in the interior forests of the district onDecember 2.Meanwhile, a Naxal couple including a local deputy commander of the PWG surrendered before Director General of Police H J Dora here Wednesday.

Dasari Venkati alias Sudarshan and his wife Laxmi alias Padma of the Jana Natya Mandali of north telanagana forest division, a cultural outfit of the PWG, severed their links with the movement as per a call given by State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who had called upon Naxals to shun violence and join the mainstream, police said here.