Hyderabad: The Special Investigation Team on Wednesday grilled Telugu Desam MLA R. Krishnaiah for about 45 minutes in connection with the slain renegade Maoist Nayeemuddin case. The investigation officials, however, did not reveal if Mr Krishnaiah was in any way connected to Nayeem’s activities.
The officials were also tight-lipped on which specific case of Nayeem had they grilled the MLA. However, the SIT officials said that neither a warrant was issued against the MLA nor his name has been added to the existing FIRs. Earlier, a notice was served on the MLA, asking him to appear before the Narsingi police.
Police sources said that Nayeem’s call records revealed frequent phone calls between the MLA and the slain gangster. “The call records showed that the MLA and Nayeem had telephonic conversations a few weeks before the encounter. Cops are trying to uncover what they were up to and if the duo had done any murky deals together,” said the source.
Meanwhile, Mr Krishnaiah has denied all allegations and said he had no links with the gangster, except an encounter with Nayeem in 1986 when he was a student leader.
The MLA, who is also the BC Welfare Association chief, said that he made acquaintance with Nayeem when the gangster was a member of the Radical Students’ Union, decades ago. He emphasised that the relationship between them was purely on ideological basis and they never had any financial deals.
Mr Krishnaiah also denied allegations that Nayeem had spent money in the LB Nagar elections in his support. He said that he was a sincere politician and was ready to cooperate with the SIT in its investigations.
In the last few weeks the SIT probe had not made any major progress, while names of several bigwigs from police department and political parties had come up during its earlier investigation.
