Rajahmundry: Gandham Pallam Raju, the
main accused in the desecration of statues of B R Ambedkar in
East Godavari, on Sunday surrendderd here even as police foiled
attempts by dalit leaders to stage protest against the
incidents and arrested scores of people from the community.
Gandham Pallam Raju, allegedly involved in the desecration
of the statues, surrendered before the district police
here, police said.
Raju was also wanted in connection with a case pertaining
to the attack on Tollywood actor Rajasekhar and his wife
Jeevitha while they were shooting in Amlapuram division around
six months back among other cases.
A manhunt has been launched to nab the eight other accused
who are believed to have been involved in defiling the
statues, police said.
With the arrest of Raju, the number of persons
arrested in connection with the incident has gone up to four.
Meanwhile, the attempt of dalit leaders and members of
the community to hold demonstrations and rasta-rokos in
protest against the arrest of their leaders was foiled by
police.
Jupudi Prabahkar Rao, Gollapalli Surya Rao, Bojja
Tharakam and K Nirmala Kumari were among others who were
arrested by police near Buddha Bhavan Vihar here when they
were heading towards Amlapuram in East Godavari district to
attend the meeting organised in the backdrop of defiling of
the five figures of the dalit icon on January 23.
Condemning the arrest of V Durga Babu (20), K Anji Babu
(19) and M Anil (19) yesterday in connection with the
desecration incident, the dalit leaders today alleged the
police had targeted innocent persons.
"We are organising the meeting to discuss the reasons
for desecration of the statues and not for other things," they
said.
According to police, the accused arrested in
connection with defiling the statues have said that they
committed the act under the influence of alcohol.
Security has been beefed up in the district following
arrest of the dalit leaders.
In a related development, MLC K Durgesh today launched
an indefinite fast in Rajahmundry demanding arrest of the
"real" culprits.
PTI
