hyderabad his facebook homepage begins with a quote be obedient and eternally fruitful to the cause of truth humanity and your country and you will move the world well he may not have moved the world but he shook andhra pradesh in the early hours of april 7 when the red sanders antismuggling task force rsastf headed by him gunned 20 woodcutters from tamil nadu in a bloody encounter in the seshachalam forests fifty fouryearold dig maganti kantha rao conferred the ips rank in 1999 is the man in the news these days the encounter is being termed the worst form of police excess and may dog the chandrababu naidu government for years to come he has gone beyond his briefthis triggerhappy officer cannot continue in office i would say he is an abettor of crimes against humanity bemoans k kranthi chaitanya of civil liberties committee kantha rao had mostly held insignificant posts in his career he was an assistant veterinary surgeon in krishna district and later worked as a probationary officer in syndicate bank in prakasam district before entering the police ranks but he preferred a posting in the ap state culture department was special secretary tourism and director ap state art gallery as dcp south zone he ordered police firing which led to the killing of five persons soon after the mecca masjid blast in 2007 the police fir ing came under sharp criticism and cops were accused of using excessive force the situation could have been brought under control without re sorting to firing but we had to follow our higherups orders recalls a cop who was part of the police team autopsy reports said four of the victims of police firing were shot in the chest and abdomen and the bul lets pierced their bodies it was no dif ferent on april 7 as the woodcutters were shot from a close range none of task force men was injured their superior training saved their lives the dig said rao as additional sp chittoor had made waves by resorting to encounters with naxals in kuppam region naidus home turf which helped him clinch the coveted post of head of the task force which was formed on january 22 this year soon after taking over he an nounced that the task force under him would not be toothless i wil teach the smugglers a befitting les son i will not spare them he would brag they will no longer be able to roam scotfree in the forest stealing red sandalwood he would often say in the aftermath of the encounter kantha rao sniggered as rights groups conducted factfinding missions much like a ram gopal varma movie character he laughed more as the outrage grew louder i cannot see the precious forest wealth being pillaged from the lords abode the almighty is watching he told toi breaking into a big laugh belonging to the dominant kamma community kantha raos eager ness to be in the