The duo was identified as Ankala Prudhiviraj of Andhra Pradesh and Chandan Kumar Misra of West Bengal.

According to the police, Prudhiviraj and Chandan Kumar, both former students of the university, wanted to join the CPI (Maoist) group and in regard to it met Haribhushan Telangana State Maoists Committee secretary in the Cherla forest area in December, 2017. (Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: The East Godavari police on Saturday arrested two people who allegedly conspired to kill University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor, V Appa Rao.

The duo was identified as Ankala Prudhiviraj of Andhra Pradesh and Chandan Kumar Misra of West Bengal.

According to the police, Prudhiviraj and Chandan Kumar, both former students of the university, wanted to join the CPI (Maoist) group and in regard to it met Haribhushan Telangana State Maoists Committee secretary in the Cherla forest area in December, 2017.

“They discussed about various issues relating to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Rohith Vemula suicide issue and the developments following it. During the talk, they planned to kill the Vice Chancellor so as to attract the students to the Maoist party. They believed that if the vice chancellor is killed students might get inclined to the Maoist movement and join the group in large numbers,” Superintendent of Police, East Godavari Vishal Gunni, said. He added that after killing the Vice Chancellor, they would drop in some pamphlets bearing the signature of Maoist to spread the message of their involvement.

The duo were nabbed by the police on Friday evening at Pitchkulapadu T Junction on Bhadrachalam – Cherla road.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Cyberabad, V C Sajjanar, said that Appa Rao is provided with one plus one security following a threat after a few incidents at the University of Hyderabad.

“We will review the security and beef it up depending upon the threat perception,” he said.