Two more held in TRS leader K Ramulu murder case; hunt for prime suspect on

Hyderabad: Two more persons allegedly involved in the murder of TRS leader K Ramulu were arrested in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday even as police formed special teams to nab former Naxal leader Nayeem, who is the prime suspect in the case, police said.

Earlier, six members of a gang of fugitive Nayeemuddin alias Nayeem were arrested in Thiruvananthapuram on May 20 by Kerala Police.

Ramulu, a member of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) executive committee and brother of former top Maoist leader Sambashivudu, was shot dead by unidentified persons on May 11 in Nalgonda town.

According to Nalgonda district Superintendent of Police T Prabhakar Rao, ten members divided in two groups, were part of the action team that was behind the killing of Ramulu, also a former naxal.

"Ramulu and Nayeem had differences/rivalry when both of them were in the maoist party. On earlier occasions there were murder attempts on Ramulu but he had escaped bid on his life. Nayeem allegedly gave directions to eliminate Ramulu this time and everything was done as per plan," the SP said.

Six of the accused had fled to Kerala after Ramulu's murder and they will also be taken into custody by AP Police for further interrogation, Rao said adding special teams have been formed to nab Nayeem.

Sambashivudu, a TRS polit bureau member, was hacked to death by unidentified assailants using sickles and swords also in Nalgonda district in March 2011. Incidentally, Nayeem was listed as the main accused in the murder of Konapuri Ilaiah alias Sambashivudu.

The district police had in April 2011 arrested five of the 12 accused in Sambasivudu's murder and claimed that the accused killed Sambashivudu at the behest of Nayeem.

Even Ramulu had earlier told a private TV news channel that his life was under threat from Nayeem. Police had also suspected the role of Nayeem in the murder of Ramulu.