In the biggest encounter after several years in Telangana, police on Thursday morning shot eight leftwing extremists in the forest area of Bhadradari Kottagudem district.
Superintendent of Police Amber Kishore said that the incident occurred under Boda police station limit of Tekupally mandal, about 250 kms east of Hyderabad. Those killed were identified as members of CPI(Ml)-Chandrapulla Reddy group. The organisation was lying low in Telangana for more than a decade.
“On the receipt of information of a meeting of an armed group, police from four police stations surrounded the forest area. When their attempts to escape failed, the extremists opened fire and in retaliatory firing by the police, six members of the group were killed,” the SP said.
Police seized a huge cache of arms, including a self-loading rifle, two 8 mm rifles and two SBBl rifles and eight kit bags. Four of those killed identified as Yeti Kumar, alias Rakhi, E Naresh, alias Sudarshan, Azad and Madhu, police said.
The Naxals indulged in large-scale extortion from contractors. They also terrorised local people, police added. The leftwing extremists of different groups were trying to regroup and revive their activities in the region ever since the formation of Telangana in June 2014. However, the intense combing operation by the elite Greyhound and the police force have foiled many such attempts, officials said.
Yadadri (earlier part of Khammam district) borders Chhattisgarh, one of the worst-affected States by the leftwing violence.
State Committee Secretary of CPI(Ml) CP Group Bomman Narasimha was among the Naxals, who were killed in an encounter in Bhadradari Kottagudem district, police said.
There were also three squad members Ramesh, Ramu and Subhash, the police said. Narasimha was a resident of Chout Uppal mandal in Nalgonda district. Narasimha was instrumental in bringing together the scattered Naxals to form a new group.