Mancherial police step up border vigil after Chhattisgarh encounter

Police have also intensified combing operations to thwart any attempts by Maoists to sneak into Telangana from Maharashtra by crossing the Pranahita river

Mancherial: Police have stepped-up vigil along the banks of the Pranahita river and on the borders of Telangana to prevent entry of Maoists into the State following the Chhattisgarh encounter.

Police have also intensified combing operations to thwart any attempts by Maoists to sneak into Telangana from Maharashtra by crossing the Pranahita river.

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They are also sharing information with their counterparts in Maharashtra regularly.

“Police personnel have been deployed on the borders of Telangana to prevent Maoists from entering Mancherial district in search of shelter in the wake of the encounter. Anti-sabotage checks, area domination, aerial viewing by drone cameras, etc, were simultaneously being taken up as part of steps to prevent any effort of naxals to move into Telangana,” a senior police officer said.

As part of efforts to prevent the entry of the Maoists, police are also keeping a tab on ferry points on the shores of Pranahita in Vemanapalli and Kotapalli mandals by using CCTV surveillance. Locals and fishermen were requested to share movements of strangers.

Police intensified patrolling in Vemanapalli, Kotapalli and Chennur mandals. Sources in the police department opined that the injured extremists might not opt Telangana for shelter considering the improved communication system and road connectivity in rural parts.

They reasoned that the district, once a stronghold, neither registered activities of the Maoists nor their entry from Maharashtra in recent times.

On March 19, Naxalites identified as Vargeesh, a secretary of Mangi-Indervelli, Kumram Bheem and Mancherial Divisional Committee (MIKBMDVCM), Magtu, a member of Sirpur-Chennur Area Committee and Kursang Raju and Kudimetta Venkatesh, both platoon members were killed in an exchange of firing between police and the Maoists at Kolamarka hillocks near Rapanpalli village in Aheri Taluq of Maharashtra.

On December 3, Naxalite couple Donga Gangadhar Rao (80) alias Narsanna alias Bakkanna alias Vengo Dada and his wife Bhavani (60) alias Sujata alias Shayamala alias Laxmi, both from Delta Gannavaram mandal of Ambedkar Konaseema district were apprehended by a special team at Indaram village in Jaipur mandal, following a tip-off.