Chhattisgarh Maoist encounter: 12 rebels, policeman killed in gunfight in Bijapur

The bodies were airlifted to Bhadrachalam Government Hospital for postmortem and identification. (Express photo)

In one of the biggest anti-Maoist operations, a joint team of Greyhounds and special police personnel shot dead at least 12 Maoists in an encounter near Pujarikanker in Chhattisgarh, 30 kms from Venkatapuram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana. The encounter started at around 4 pm Thursday when the Greyhounds of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, assisted by special police personnel from Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, began combing operations following a tip-off about a Maoist meeting. Sources said the combing team came across 50-100 Maoists in a forest, near Pujarikanker. While the team asked them to surrender, the Maoists opened fire instead. Officials said at least 12 Maoists, including six women, were killed in the incident while Greyhounds Constable Sushil Kumar, who was severely injured, died while being airlifted to Bhadrachalam hospital in Telangana.

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Two AK 47s, among other weapons, were found at the encounter spot. Security forces suspect top Maoist leaders must be among those dead who are yet to be identified. The bodies have been airlifted to Bhadrachalam Government Hospital for postmortem and identification. All the Maoists are suspected to be from the Telangana State Committee.

Cops suspect that those present at the meeting included Hari Bhushan, secretary and a senior member of the Telangana State Committee, and Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar, another senior leader who is in-charge of Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal in Telangana. Damodar had escaped from an encounter in September 2015 in Warangal.

Sources said Chhattisgarh Police had received information that a meeting of the Maoists would be held somewhere along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. A massive search operation was launched with forces drawn from the neighbouring states. While the Maoists were spotted in the area 30 kms away from Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana, the encounter broke out in the forest between Venkatapuram, Cherla and Pujarikanker.

Officials said that while dozens of Maoists opened fire at the security forces and kept them pinned down, the rest escaped from the spot towards Chhattisgarh as they were hemmed in by the Godavari river on Telangana side. Greyhounds Constable Sushil Kumar, who was in the lead team, sustained serious injuries in the encounter. His colleagues carried him to a nearby place where a chopper was summoned to airlift him to the hospital but he died on the way.

Kumar had joined police in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and had become a part of the anti-Naxalite unit, Greyhounds in 2014. Two other Greyhounds, who were also injured in the encounter, have been airlifted to hospitals.

Meanwhile, revolutionary writer and poet P Varavara Rao condemned the killing of the Maoists. “It is not an encounter. Police caught hold of these Maoists, tortured and shot them dead. An inquiry should be ordered,” he said.

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