Telangana: Seven Maoists killed in encounter in Mulugu

A key leader, Kursam Mangu alias Bhadru alias Papanna of Cheramangi village of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh was eliminated in the encounter. He was the Maoist state committee member acting as Yellandu-Narsampet area committee secretary and carries an AK-47 rifle with him

Mulugu: Seven cadres of CPI (Maoists) were killed in an encounter between police and the naxals in Chalpaka-Kondai forests in Eturnagaram mandal of Mulugu district on Sunday.

According to available information, secretaries of two Maoist area committees, including Maoist Yellandu-Narsampet area committee commander Bhadru alias Papanna, were among the dead. Six of the seven slain Maoists were natives of Chhattisgarh. Police seized firearms from the encounter spot. Greyhounds and the local police took part in the encounter.

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A key leader, Kursam Mangu alias Bhadru alias Papanna of Cheramangi village of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, was the Maoist state committee member acting as Yellandu-Narsampet area committee secretary and carried an AK-47 rifle with him. There was a reward of Rs.20 lakh on his head.

Similarly, a divisional committee member, Egolapu Mallaiah alias Madhu of Rajapur village in Ramagiri mandal in Peddapalli district was killed in the encounter. He was the secretary of Eturnagaram-Mahadevpur area committee and carried an AK-47 rifle.

Area committee members, Mussaki Deval alias Karunakar and Mussaki Jamuna, Jaisingh, Kishore and Kamesh were the other naxals killed in the encounter. They belong to different parts of Chhattisgarh. Police recovered the bodies and firearms after the encounter was over.

According to Mulugu District Superintendent of Police P Shabarish, two AK-47 rifles were among the weapons seized from the scene. The armed CPI(Maoist) cadres began firing indiscriminately at the police personnel despite being asked to surrender. The police also returned fire in self-defence, he said. After the encounter, police found seven dead bodies while the remaining ultras got away.

The Maoists were implicated in the killings of two men in a village in Mulugu district last month, on suspicion of being police informers. Additional DGP (Law & Order) Mahesh M Bhagwat praised the police teams for the operation and urged the remaining Maoist cadres to join the mainstream.

It might be recalled that the Sunday’s encounter spot was the place where the Maoists had blown up a police jeep blasting a landmine on June 21, 1991. The then Eturunagaram CI, Santhosh Kumar, SI Kishore and five other police personnel were killed in the incident and their body parts were thrown onto the trees in the impact of the blast.