Ten members, including six women, of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and a commando of the anti-Naxal Greyhounds were killed in an exchange of fire with the police on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, 400 km from here, on Friday.
In a joint operation under way for the last two days following specific intelligence, armed police teams of the two States were combing the thick forests of Pujari Kanker area of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh when they bumped into a contingent of Maoists around 6 a.m. The encounter site was close to the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district in Telangana. .
“It was actually an armed company of 70-80 Maoists. They apparently wanted to ambush us and opened fire,” Telangana intelligence wing officials said. The Greyhounds teams and other armed units returned fire.
The gun battle lasted over 30 minutes. Thirty-four-year-old Greyhounds commando B. Susheel Kumar sustained a bullet wound and died. Bodies of 10 Maoists were found at the encounter site during searches later. One AK-47 rifle, five Indian New Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles, one Self-Loading Rifle, two single bore rifles, three claymore mines and six rocket bombs were seized. A pistol, one radio and ₹41,000 were also recovered.
Initially, speculation was rife that top Maoist leader Hari Bhushan was among the dead. Even Telangana Advocate General, while responding to a lunch motion moved by civil rights organisations before the Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court, said Hari Bhushan was dead. By evening, however, intelligence officials admitted that he had escaped.
Till evening, only two bodies were flown to Bhadrachalam. They were identified as Bhudri alias Renuka and Sanjeev. The remaining eight bodies were still at the encounter site when reports last came in.
Maoist with ₹30 lakh bounty on head killed
Though top Maoist leader Hari Bhushan escaped from the encounter site, another leader, who carried a bounty on his head, was reportedly among those killed in the gunfight on the Telangana border on Friday.
“Among the slain Maoists, two looked identical to Hari Bhushan. No one could confirm it was him,” the Intelligence authorities said.
The identity of the remaining Maoists was also yet to be confirmed, they said.
The Maoist party’s Khammam-Karimnagar-Waragal (KKW) secretary Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar is said to be among the slain Maoists. He carried a reward of ₹30 lakh on his head and was accused of involvement in over 50 criminal cases.
