Hyderabad — The outlawed CPI Maoist on Friday suffered a big blow as 12 of its cadres including the Telangana State Committee Secretary Hari Bhushan were killed in an encounter in a combined operation by the Chattisgarh police and the anti-Naxalite Greyhound force of Telangana.
The incident occurred early on Friday in Pujari Kamkedu forest area of Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh just 8km from Venkatapuram in the Jayashankar-Bhupalapally district of Telangana.
The forces of the two states were combing the region for the past two days on receiving information about the presence of a large number of Maoists in the area. “The exchange of fire took place this morning when our forces challenged the Maoists. The extremists opened fire on the advancing forces leading to the encounter,” a senior official of Greyhounds said. The encounter started in the wee hours and continued till 7am.
The dead included six women and another senior leader, B Chokka Rao. One of the women was identified as Samakka.
A commando of the Telangana Greyhound, Susheel Kumar, was also killed in the fierce encounter. Three other commandos injured in the incident were airlifted by a helicopter to a hospital.
Police recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles from the scene of the encounter.
Police believe that a Central Committee member, Azad, was also present at the scene of the encounter, but managed to escape with injuries. Search was on to nab the Maoists at large.
Hari Bhushan was appointed as the Secretary of the state unit after Telangana became a separate state in June 2014. Since then he had been trying to revive and strengthen the Maoist organisation in northern Telangana districts. He was on the top of the hit list of the state police.
Police said that there were 50 different cases of murder, attempt to murder and other serious offences against him and the government had announced a reward of Rs3 million for his capture.
This was also the second anniversary of a similar encounter in the same area on March 2, 2016 in which 7 Maoists were killed. South Central Zone secretary Lachchanna was among those killed in the incident.
The bodies of the deceased were shifted to Bhadradari-Kottagudem district hospital for post mortem.
This is the second major encounter involving the Greyhound force of Telangana in three months. Eight rebels belonging to ultra leftist Chandrapulla Reddy group were killed in an encounter with the police in Bhadradari-Kothagudem district of Telangana on December 14.
‘Fake encounter’
Meanwhile, a group of civil rights activists moved an urgent petition before Hyderabad High Court seeking proper investigation into the incident. Alleging that it was not an encounter but cold-blooded killing after nabbing the Maoists, the petition requested the court to issue directions for the preservation of the bodies and post mortem by forensic experts in the presence of the family members of the deceased persons.
The petition also demanded that a murder case should be booked against the policemen involved in the incident.
Famous Telugu poet and a leader of Revolutionary Writers Association Vara Vara Rao said that this was a case of fake encounter. “It was not an encounter, it was a fake encounter. These people were caught, tortured and then killed. I demand a judicial probe into the incident,” he said.
