Koraput/ Bhubaneswar: In a major breakthrough, police Friday arrested Damburu Khila, a dreaded Maoist leader of Nandapur division, from Koraput. According to official sources, Khila was wanted in connection with the murder case of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and ex-MLA Siveri Soma in September 2018.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Koraput police arrested Khila from Kodikhal village under Chatua panchayat bordering Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Koraput SP Kanwar Vishal singh said police arrested Damburu during a raid Thursday and seized two mobile phones from his possession after interrogation. Damburu will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for further investigation.
The NIA has been probing the killing of TDP MLA and ex-MLA and, during investigation, the NIA had gathered information about the alleged role of Khila in the killing of the TDP leaders and was trying to nab him, the police said.
TDP’s Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA of the same constituency Siveri Soma were shot dead by the Maoists while returning from an event in Araku valley September 23, 2018.
Following the incident, locals had set fire to police stations in Dumbri Guda and Araku in the aftermath of the assassination of the two leaders.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media on the issue in Bhubaneswar, DGP RP Sharma Friday said that the Koraput police had received information that a dreaded extremist, who was involved in the killing of TDP leaders, was present in an area under Paduwa police limits. Subsequently, Koraput police gathered more intelligence in this matter and arrested the accused during a raid. Police will interrogate Damburu Khilla, who is said to be the Nandapur area committee commander of the CPI (Maoist), before handing over him to the NIA.
