In a major blow to the Maoist leadership in the strategically-important Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) special zone, at least 24 Maoists, including eight women, were gunned down in an exchange of fire with security forces in the cutoff Chitrakonda area in Malkangiri district in Odisha bordering Andhra Pradesh on Monday.
The encounter took place in a mountainous forest area between Bejangi and Muchiputam under Panasput grampanchyat under the Chitrakonda police station.
The bodies were brought to Chitrakonda for identification and postmortem. Of the 24 bodies, 14 were identified. All the ultras were the cadres of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee.
Sources said that top Maoist leaders like Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, Bengal Sudhir, Anil, Ramakrishan alias RK alias Saketh's son Munna, Bakuri Venkata Ramana alias Ganesh and others were in the area at the time of the encounter. Uday was carrying a reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head. DGP KB Singh said the blueprint of the operation had been finalised just a few days ago after a tipoff about movement of the Maoists in the cutoff area was ascertained.
“Accordingly, a joint operation was conducted by the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police,” said Singh.
The faceoff between the security personnel and the outlaws lasted for about an hour. The ultras were said to be resting after a meeting when the encounter took place in the Bejangi forest close to the AP border. Ten rifles, four AK-47 rifles, three SlRs, kit bags and huge ammunitions of the Maoists were recovered from the site while the search operation was continuing, added the DGP.
“The bodies of 24 Maoists, including those of some women, were recovered from the site. A few of the Red rebels are suspected to have fled,” said Malkangiri Superintendent of Police (SP) Mitrabhanu Mohapatra. Notably, 14 Maoists had been killed in an encounter with security forces in Padia block in Malkangiri district in 2013. After the incident, the ultras had managed to give the security forces a slip and expanded their networks in Odisha and neighbouring States.