The former Telugu Desam Party government and later, the Congress government in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh had indeed used naxalite-turned-gangster Nayeemuddin as the police informer to eliminate Naxalites in encounters.
This was admitted by former Special Intelligence Bureau officer Sriram Tiwari on Thursday. He said he had used Nayeem to track down the Maoists and paid him money as and when he helped.
“In fact, there were many other police informers like Nayeem. After me, my successors also used Nayeem as informer. But the department was not aware of what he was doing subsequently,” he said.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA from Dubbak S Ramachandra Reddy alleged that Nayeem was patronised by former minister Uma Madhav Reddy.
He said Nayeem had threatened him against contesting in the elections, but he did not succumb to those threats.
“In fact, I should have been killed in encounter 20 years ago, but I escaped by a whisker. Now, I am enjoying second life,” Reddy, who had earlier worked in Maoist party, said.
