By Express News Service
ANANTAPUR:Tension that gripped in Chinnapolamada village of Tadipatri mandal after violence broke out on Saturday during Ganesh idol immersion procession subsided on Monday. Anantapur MP J C Diwakar Reddy withdrew his protest soon after the police and district authorities shifted almost all devotees from Swamy Prabhodhananda ashram amid tight security. Chinnapolamada had on the boil since Saturday night after clashes broke out between Swamy Prabhodhananda’s followers and villagers during Ganesh idol immersion procession. The clashes continued on Sunday, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Police personnel from Kurnool, Prakasam, Kadapa and Chittoor were rushed to the village and even Octopus forces were on the stand-by to storm the ashram and shift the devotees, numbering nearly 2,000, to restore normalcy in the area.
District Collector G Veerapandian, SP GVG Ashok Kumar and others held talks with ashram managers and devotees since Sunday night, asking them to vacate the premises. Law and Order IG Ravishankar Ayyar, Kurnool Range DIG G Srinivas, SPs of Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor and Prakasam districts held talks with Diwakar Reddy who was staging a protest in the Tadipatri III Town police station since Sunday, while 15 tehsildars were deployed to oversee arrangements to shift the devotees.
Finally, the devotees agreed to leave the premises. Authorities shifted them to their respective places in RTC buses and four-wheelers. Simultaneously, police put up barricades at the ashram and installed CCTV cameras and lighting facilities and posted police personnel there. Earlier, medical facilities were made available to the elderly and milk and other essentials were supplied to the children. By 2.30 pm, the devotees were shifted from the ashram, leaving behind 150-odd people, who have local Aadhaar cards, for maintaining the ashram.
After the devotees were shifted, Diwakar Reddy called off his protest and left the police station.
Earlier in the day, Swamy’s followers met Opposition Leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy in Visakhapatnam and told him about “atrocities” on the ashram inmates by the followers of JC. Ridiculing the “poor” law and order situation in the State, the YSRC termed the Tadipatri incident “rowdy rule”.
Police break CCTVs, allege inmates
The ashram managers alleged that the police damaged the CCTVs installed on the ashram premises to ensure that the atrocities of Diwakar Reddy’s followers will not come to light.
