A head constable with the Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP) 11 th battalion, who was suspended from duty for hobnobbing with red sanders smugglers, was arrested on charges of smuggling the rare wood in Kadada on Monday.
Kuraku Venkatasubbaiah, 45, hailing from Badvel town, served the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force in Tirupati on deputation and was later repatriated to his parent unit APSP. During his stint with the task force, he had allegedly misused his position to establish contacts with red sanders kingpins and entered the smuggling business for illegal gain.
Badvel Rural police arrested Venkatasubbaiah when he was preparing to smuggle felled trees from Lakkavaripalli village of Gopavaram mandal on Monday. Superintendent of Police K.K.N. Anburajan told reporters that the tainted police official had even been arrested once by Nagarjunasagar police, sent to judicial remand and released on bail, which had necessitated his suspension from duty.
Mr. Anburajan appreciated the Sub-Divisional Police Officers Madhusudhan Goud (Mydukur), Chenchu Babu (Faction zone), Task Force Circle Inspector Nagabhushanam and Badvel Rural Inspector P. Hanumantha Naik for cracking down on the offenders.
Similarly, the Chennur police arrested Kola Baburam of Prakasam district, an accused in several red sanders smuggling cases in Prakasam, Kadapa, Guntur, Kurnool, Anantapur, Tirupati and Vijayawada police limits. The police found him waiting for a vehicle on Kadapa-Tadipatri road, but grew suspicious when he tried to flee the spot.
