We fired in self-defence, say Andhra Pradesh cops

Hyderabad: The AP police on Wednesday informed the Hyderabad HC that they had not violated the law by opening fire on Maoists on the AP-Odisha Border on October 23, and that they did so in self-defence when Maoists refused to surrender and continued to fire.

The AP police was responding to a PIL moved by AP Civil Liberties Committee general secretary C. Chandrasekhar questioning the AP police entering Odisha and “killing Maoists and innocent tribals.” He urged the court to issue directions to book the police personnel involved for murder.

The petitioner contended that AP police and Greyhounds had no powers to enter another state.

Visakhapatnam Rural SP Rahul Dev Sharma in his affidavit, refuted the contentions of the petitioner and said that the Centre had allowed Greyhounds to conduct operations in border areas of other states to curb the Maoist menace.

The SP submitted said the Centre was deploying armed police to aid states facing Maoist activity. He told the court that the Maoists who were armed with automatic guns had opened fire on the police. The firing was intense resulting in injuries to Greyhound commando Satish. Another commando Abu Bakar died while trying to escape the firing.

He said the petition seems to have been filed by misrepresenting a legitimate joint combing exercise and firing in the self defence.

When the petition of Mr Chandrasekhar come up for hearing today, Mr V. Raghunath, counsel for the petitioner, told a bench comprising acting CJ Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankar Narayana that the respondents had failed to answer issues in the petition. He requested the bench for time to file his reply to the affidavit. The bench posted the case to Tuesday.

Maoists call hunger stir at cherlapally

Opposing the police action on Maoists near Balimela and seeking prosecution of the cops for murder, Left activists and Maoists lodged at the Cherlapally central prison gave a call on Wednesday for a hunger strike from Thursday.

Maoist leaders Kobad Gandhy, Subramanyam, Ganesh and others said they would participate in the strike. However, Cherlapally jail superintendent K.V. Reddy said no notice was given by the Left wing prisoners.

Sources said almost all Left wing prisoners were having diabetes and hypertension. “We asked them to avoid a hunger strike. Doctors will be available during the strike,” the sources said.