Three Maoists were killed and a reserve sub-inspector was injured in an exchange of fire in the forest area in Visakhapatnam on Friday. The rebels belonged to the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the military wing of the CPI (Maoist).
Unofficial figures put the number of Maoists killed as four in the encounter with the Greyhounds that took place between Cheruvuru and Yegajanaba villages under Balapam Panchayat in Chintapalli mandal of Visakhapatnam district.
There were two women among the dead. Nearly 300 rounds were fired in the exchange of fire that lasted nearly an hour, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Visakha Range) Sowmya Misra told journalists. Earlier she called on the injured RSI at a hospital here.
Rifle recovered
An INSAS rifle and 40 kitbags were recovered from the encounter spot. There could be more casualties, said Dr. Misra. Superintendent of Police Vineet Brij Lal was also present.
The Greyhounds went to the spot on the Andhra-Orissa border in three batches after receiving information that a company of the PLGA, consisting of around 70 members, was meeting there.
According to reports, the PLGA members noticed one party of Greyhounds reaching the spot and, as they prepared to face the police, another party of Greyhounds, which pretended to head into the Orissa area returned to reach the meeting spot of the PLGA from behind. The two police parties pinned down the Maoists.
The body of the fourth PLGA member might have been taken away by the others while fleeing from the spot.
Two PLGA members were also reportedly taken into custody by the Greyhounds. Three weapons were also left behind by the Maoists.
The death of four PLGA members is a big blow to the Maoists as they had appeared to have gained strength and tried to assert their superiority in some areas of Visakha Agency where they killed several people alleging them to be police informers, destroyed public and private property and “distributed” coffee plantation of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation in Balapam Panchayat recently.
