Subba Rao of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, emerges as the prime conspirator in the Secunderabad railway station violence, as investigators reportedly stumble upon new evidence confirming his involvement in the case.
A police official involved in the investigation said that most of the ‘masked youths’ seen in some widely circulated video clips of the violence are believed to be his followers or associates. Seeking anonymity, the officer said that all the masked youths, except those who were seen carrying sticks and vandalizing them, were suspected to be men.
Initially, the police suspected whether an outsider, a person unconnected with the issue or activists of any political party infiltrated the mob of youths angry with the Centre’s Agneepath scheme and perpetrated the violence. “The video clip shows some people carrying wooden sticks and covering their faces with clothes, which naturally made us suspect whether some organized gang was involved in the violence,” the police officer said. .
As the investigation progressed and Subba Rao of the Sai Defense Academy (one of the many private institutions that train youth to recruit into the ranks of Army personnel) was picked up, new evidence began to emerge. After being grilled for several hours, Subba Rao admitted that he had reached Hyderabad on the day of the violence.
Showing solidarity with the youth who decided to take out a rally and register a protest, he posted pictures of his arrival in the city in the youth’s WhatsApp group. But before he reached the Secunderabad railway station, the crowd of youths camping around the railway station went berserk, police found.
“As soon as video clips of violence started circulating at the railway station, Rao fled to Hyderabad and went to Guntur fearing his apprehension,” investigators said. Police sources said that the owners of three other similar academies gangraped her to incite the youths.
It is also suspected that Rao had sent money to various districts of Telangana for organizing protests and for the expenditure of flexi boards and banners. He was handed over to the Government Railway Police, Secunderabad, which is likely to formally announce his arrest on Thursday.