Khammam: Eight Maoists, including five women, were killed in a fierce encounter with the police at the inter-state border between Telangana state and Chhattisgarh in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Eight bodies have been recovered at the encounter site which have been airlifted in three helicopters to Bhadrachalam for post-mortem. Three among the dead have been identified.
They include Gottimukkala Ramesh, a resident of Bapatla in Guntur district, Usuf Bee aka Soni, a resident of Daulatabad of Medak district and C.R. Raju of Chhattisgarh.
The police on Tuesday have recovered one AK-47, five SLRs, three .303 and two INSAS guns apart from revolutionary literature, 10 kit bags, plastic sheets and utensils from the site near Battemthogu village.
Telangana Maoist secretary escapes
The encounter took place near Battemthogu village under Gollapalli police station limits in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. The village is located 33 km from the Charla mandal headquarters.
Telangana Maoist Party secretary Haribhushan aka Jagan and his wife also called Soni, Kham-mam-Karimnagar-Warangal secretary Damodar and Venkata-puram area commander Veeraiah aka Lachanna were among those who managed to escape.
Sources said that personnel of Greyhounds of Telangana state, CRPF and Chhattisgarh Special Police reached the spot after being tipped off by the Special Intelligence Bureau.
According to locals of Battemthogu, the Maoists had convened a mini-plenary to evolve a strategy for their outfit in Telangana state. Nearly a hundred of the cadre attended the meeting.
The police opened fire on two persons who had attended to nature’s call and were on their way back to the meeting place. Sources said several prominent leaders got alerted and fled the scene.
