The first images clicked by the manned aircraft of the Indian Space Research Organisation, sent earlier on Wednesday to find traces of the missing Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajashekhar Reddy in the Nallamalla forests, have been received and are being analysed by the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad, according to sources in ISRO.
Fearing that the Naxals who staged the recent deadly attack in Chhattisgarh may flee to the dense forests of Andhra Pradesh, probe agencies have launched a massive manhunt to trace them. While the Central Reserve Police Force has beefed up search operations in Naxal-hit states like Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, intelligence inputs suggest that they may take shelter in Nallamalla forest in Andhra Pradesh.
'Vital clues' have been collected by the high-powered committee of Directorate General of Civil Aviation, from the helicopter crash site in the dense Nallamalla forest range in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, official sources said.Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others were killed when their helicopter crashed in Nallamalla forest area on September 2.The five-member DGCA expert team is led by R K Tyagi.
The news of YSR's death has plunged the state into mourning, as stunned supporters poured out into the streets to express their grief. Hundreds gathered near the CM's residence in Hyderabad and the state secretariat.
Thousands of people, led by Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy, paid tribute to his father and late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Dr Y S Rajashekhar Reddy on his death anniversary on Thursday.
As the massive search operation to locate Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who went missing over Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district, resumed on Thursday morning, some new information has forced the authorities to consider the possibility of the helicopter crashing in Srisailam reservoir. Some local fishermen have alerted the authorities that they have spotted the presence of oil in the backwaters of Srisailam reservoir on river Krishna in the area.
The massive search operation, to locate the missing helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterY S Rajasekhara Reddy, resumed at 6 am on Thursday morning, with three special aircraft and five helicopters. Atmakur, a small town in the Nallamalla forest area, has become the nerve centre of the operation as hundreds of personnel from various forces, including the state police and paramilitary, reached the place to comb the forest area.
With a Sukhoi fighter aircraft, a special air craft from Indian Space Research Organization and another low flying aircraft of the state government completing a comprehensive aerial survey of Nallamalla forest area to find missing Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajashekhara Reddy's helicopter on Wednesday night and gathering crucial data including the photographs, focus of the search operation on Thursday will move to the ground.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it will take over on Thursday the investigations into the helicopter crash that killed former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
The Crime Investigation Department of the Andhra Pradesh police has launched its own probe into the death of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, who were killed when the Bell-430 helicopter they were travelling in crashed at Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district on Thursday.The CID will try to find out the answers to a host of questions ranging from why an old helicopter with a history of snags was chosen for the chief minister when a new one was available.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been killed in a helicopter crash in the dense Nallamalla forest.The wreckage has been located between Rollapenta and Rudra Koderu in Kurnool district.The helicopter had apparently met with an accident and crashed, according to Rudra Koderu Police Inspector Janardhan Rao.
The 60-year-old Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's untimely death in a helicopter crash has robbed Andhra Pradesh, and the Congress party, of a charismatic leader
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been killed in a helicopter crash in the dense Nallamalla forest, authorities confirmed on Thursday morning.
Hopes of finding an early clue about the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's missing helicopter suffered a setback as nothing could be found in the 41 photographs taken by a special aircraft of the Indian Space Research Organization.
Incessant rains, and not Maoists, is the major hurdle facing the security forces who have launched a massive search operation in the Nallamalla forests in Andhra Pradesh, where Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's helicopter went missing this morning, Andhra Pradesh police sources involved in the search operations have said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajashekhara Reddy's twin-engined Bell 430 AP helipcopter took off at 8.45 am on Wednesday and was scheduled to land at Chitoor district at 10.45 am. However, it soon lost radio contact and has been untraceable, ever since.
A joint team of Directorate General of Civil Aviation officials and the police on Friday located the Flight Voice Recorder of the helicopter that crashed killing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, laying their hands on a piece of evidence that may throw some light on the incident.
Senior Andhra Pradesh minister K Rosaiah is likely to be made the acting chief minister in the wake of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death in a chopper crash. Highly placed Congress sources said the party was not in a hurry to convene the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, to elect Reddy's successor, and the meeting could take place three or four days later.Rosaiah, 77, is Andhra's finance minister and the number two in the state cabinet.
A four member team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, led by R K Tyagi, will visit the site in dense Nallamalla forest on Thursday where the Bell-430 helicopter, carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, had crashed a week ago.The team landed in Kurnool on Wednesday to start its probe into the crash, which had sent shock waves across the country and raised serious questions about the safety of the helicopters used by VIPs.
An internal communication of the home ministry states that the Naxal movement is fast spreading to the southern states, and if immediate action is not taken it could blow up into a full-fledged menace, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
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