Thiruvananthapuram: The naxal-link of the six persons arrested here on Tuesday over the murder of an Andhra Pradesh political leader is yet to be verified.
The police, however, said that the arrested were the accused in the murder of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K Ramulu.
A police team of Andhra, led by Nalgonda Superintendent of Police Rema Rajeshwari, who happens to be a Keralite, reached in the capital city Wednesday morning and quizzed the gang.
Talking to reporters here, the SP said that the investigation team was yet to confirm the naxal linkage of the arrested persons.
“The key accused in the murder case is one Nayeemuddin. Ramulu and Nayeemuddin were naxalites earlier. But they severed their links with the extremists and entered different professions. While Ramulu got into politics, Nayeem opted for real-estate business,” the SP told reporters.
The arrested persons are the gang members appointed by Nayeem to kill Ramulu, she added
Ramulu, a member of TRS executive committee and brother of former top Maoist leader Sambashivudu, was shot dead by unidentified persons on May 11 in Nalgonda town of Andhra Pradesh. Subsequently, fugitive Nayeemuddin alias Nayeem had emerged as the prime suspect behind the killing of Ramulu.
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.