Suspected Maoists set ablaze a road roller and an earth-moving machine deployed at the road construction site at the remote Battinapalli village in Charla mandal in Telangana’s tribal heartland of Bhadrachalam Agency late on Tuesday night.
The incident comes a few days ahead of the Telangana bandh called by the newly reconstituted State committee of the CPI (Maoist) on July 25 demanding the immediate release of the ailing octogenarian poet Varavara Rao from Maharashtra jail and withdrawal of the State police’s Greyhound force from the forest areas.
Sources said that unidentified persons suspected to be Maoists set on fire two road construction machines near Battinapalli, an interior village located on the forest fringes of Charla mandal, adjoining Chhattisgarh around Tuesday midnight.
They left behind a letter in the name of the CPI (Maoist) Bhadradri Kothagudem-East Godavari committee at the incident site. The note contained slogans urging people to observe “Martyrs’ week” from July 28 to August 3, sources added.
The incident triggered tension in the border region of the State amid the all out efforts by the district police to avert revival of Maoist activities in the Agency areas and renewed attempts by Maoists to regain their foothold in the remote tribal pockets of the district.
