This story is from June 26, 2022

Defence academy owner arrested for Secunderabad arson

A week after Agnipath scheme protesters wreaked mayhem on Secunderabad railway station, Sai Defence Academy owner and key accused, Avula Subba Rao, and his three aides were formally arrested by railway police on Saturday.
Defence academy owner arrested for Secunderabad arson
Avula Subba Rao
HYDERABAD: A week after Agnipath scheme protesters wreaked mayhem on Secunderabad railway station, Sai Defence Academy owner and key accused, Avula Subba Rao, and his three aides were formally arrested by railway police on Saturday.
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Rao, who was earlier given a clean chit by Andhra Pradesh police, but later nabbed and brought to Hyderabad by Telangana cops, was charged with instigating violence and planning and executing the attack on Secunderabad railway station from a lodge in Boduppal on city outskirts.

A retired Army medical assistant, who runs a chain of defence coaching centres since 2014 in the two Telugu states, was glued to television while the horror unfolded at Secunderabad station last Friday and monitored the situation, while receiving updates on phone from his henchmen on the ground. Police slapped 29 sections of IPC on Subba Rao and his three aides — Malla Reddy, Shiva Kumar and Beesi Reddy — and booked them under The Railways Act.
"Subba Rao travelled to Hyderabad from Narasaraopet in Andhra Pradesh, a day before violence was unleashed on Secunderabad station, and put up at a suburban lodge, which he turned into his command post. While declaring support to the agitation, he directed his associates, Malla Reddy, Shiva and Beesi Reddy, to instigate army aspirants to invade the railway station, while vowing to bankroll the stir. Several voice messages were posted on WhatsApp groups to bring petrol and set trains ablaze," police said.

On June 14, after the Centre announced the Agnipath scheme and scrapped the Common Entrance Exam (CEE), army aspirants who had cleared medical and physical tests were angry as they had spent two years preparing for CEE. "Initially, they wanted to lead a representation to the Army Recruitment Officer at Secunderabad, but after witnessing the violence in Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they changed strategy after Subba Rao's call to arms. Different WhatsApp groups were created and messages and audio clips exhorting youth to assemble at Secunderabad Railway station and set ablaze trains were circulated," a police officer said.
Subba Rao's three associates and other followers directly participated in the arson on June 17 and incited youth to hurl stones and torch trains. "He monitored the situation from his room and barked out orders to his henchmen, while watching the vandalism on TV. Rao, who hung up his Army boots in 2011, hammered out the violence blueprint in Hyderabad as he feared his defence academy chains would become redundant and shut down if the Agnipath scheme was enforced," police said.
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