Meanwhile more victims of the mafia lodged complaints with the task force cops on Sunday.
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Vijayawada: The extortion mafia, which sexually exploited several women who were unable to repay loans, employed a gang of goons to threaten their victims. Some of them were working as private bodyguards for some TD leaders who were allegedly backing the mafia.
Bhavani Shankar and four others accused in the case were security guards of prime accused Yalamachili Ramu. Shankar, who is reportedly in police custody, himself claims to be a bodyguard of VIPs of the Telugu Desam. A B.Com graduate from Nalanda Degree College, Shankar is well known in TD circles.
Two other accused, Dudala Rajesh and Srikanth Pendyala, are graduates from a city college. Venigalla Srinivas, who is among the accused, is closely associated with Penamaluru MLA Bode Prasad, the two are currently in Thailand.
Meanwhile more victims of the mafia lodged complaints with the task force cops on Sunday. A woman from Ajit Singh Nagar alleged that she had paid '2 lakh as interest to one Mohan after borrowing Rs 50,000 from him a year ago.
“My property documents are with him and he is trying to make me enter the flesh trade,” she told reporters.
Another woman, along with her husband, lodged a complaint against Durgasi Ramesh who took their property documents even as they were repaying their loans.
The couple had met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu a few days ago and requested him to ensure that the man released their property papers.
2 members of extortion gang arrested by city cops
The city police on Sunday arrested two persons of the extortion mafia which sexually exploited several women after they were unable to repay their loans.
Prime accused Yalamanchili Sri Ramamurthy and Dudala Rajesh, who members of a seven-member gang booked for rape, extortion and other charges, were arrested following a complaint given by a victim. The other accused are yet to be arrested and more gang members are yet to be identified, said police commissioner D. Gautam Sawang.
Mr Sawang said that the women were exploited in the most evil means possible, and that there were still several victims of the gang. “We are receiving more phone calls from the victims and we will investigate”, he said.
He said that call money was a regular feature of the gang but their main motive was exploitation of women.
“We are not being pressurised by anyone. We have clear instructions from the government, the Chief Minister and the DGP regarding the case and everyone behind the mafia would be identified and arrested”, Mr Sawang said.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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