Amalapuram violence: Police continue search for rioters

KAKINADA: Police are continuing their search for the accused in Tuesday’s arson in Amalapuram, headquarters of Konaseema district. A local cadre of the ruling YSRC, along with BJP and Jana Sena, were also found to be involved in the riots.

Meanwhile, the Dalit Hakkula Porata Samithi (DHPS) has decided to hold Maha Dharna and a public meeting at Amalapuram centre on June 2 demanding that Konaseema district be named after BR Ambedkar. Expecting trouble, the police have beefed up security in the district headquarters town by deploying a huge force.

With the district authorities disconnecting internet as a precautionary measure to stop spread of false messages on social media, the general public are facing severe hardship. Banking services and withdrawal of money from ATMs have been hit. Even messages cannot be sent in case of emergency. Internet-based services like work from home, online classes, and stock market brokerage services have also been affected. 

With internet-based international calls being blocked, relatives of people in Amalapuram are in dark as to what is happening in the town.“It has created a problem. With no internet, my work has suffered. My bosses are asking me to report to office which is not located in Amalapuram,” said Bindu Madhavi, a software professional. Her office is in Bengalore and as she has to tend to her family consisting of small kids and elderly people, she has been facing hardship to do office work for the  last two days. There are several people like Bindu Madhavi in Amalapuram. 

When contacted, police officials said on the suggestion of district Superintendent of Police KSSV Subba Reddy,  District  Collector Himanshu Shukla wrote to the State government for disconnecting internet till normalcy was restored in Amalapuram. 

Speaking to mediapersons, Eluru Range DIG G Pala Raju explained as to how troublemakers spread anti-social messages through WhatsApp groups for four days before the violence in the town on Tuesday. Around 19 troublemakers were already arrested and another 27  accused were in police custody out of the total 100 suspects.Seven social media group admins were also taken into custody for spreading anti-social messages, the DIG said.

Seven social media admins in custody 
Explaining as to how trouble-makers spread anti-social messages through WhatsApp groups for four days before the violence in Amalapuram on May 24, Eluru Range DIG G Pala Raju said 19 troublemakers were arrested and another 27 accused were in police custody out of the total 100 suspects. Seven social media group admins were also taken into custody for spreading anti-social messages, he said