A close confidante and several other local tribal leaders belonging to different political parties in Araku valley’s villages are found to have given shelter and passed on information to Maoists on movements of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao in the days prior to his killing.

One particular leader has become very close and won confidence of the MLA regardless of the fact that they belong to different tribes. He along with his wife, who is working for women and child welfare department, have helped Maoists in getting critical information and supplies.

These two were questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and their call data was checked thoroughly which has yielded some result to crack the case. The duo said that they did all that after Maoists had threatened to kill them while the police are not believing their words.

The police are also suspecting the role of many more village and mandal level leaders in Dumbrigunta mandal and surrounding areas. All these jointly gave shelter to Maoists prior to the killing of the MLA Sarveswara Rao and ex MLA Siveri Soma.

These local leaders have formed a good network and passed on information to Maoists the moment MLA Sarveswara Rao left Araku to take part in the official Grama Darsini programme at Sarrai village. This became advantageous for Maoists to successfully carry out their plans.

The police were not satisfied with the replies of these leader-informants who all said that Maoists threatened to kill them if they refused to cooperate. But almost all of them confessed to having helped Maoists some way or other.

The phone call records of all these leaders were checked closely. This proved very useful for the police who could not initially get a breakthrough as the Maoists had taken away the cell phones of the MLA and ex MLA after killing them.