On the morning of 1st December, security forces neutralised seven Maoists in an encounter in the Mulugu district of Telangana. The development came a week after two tribal men were killed by Maoists on suspicion of being police informers in the area.
The encounter started at around 5:30 in the morning. The operation was conducted by the elite anti-Maoist Greyhounds forces, which spotted the Maoists in the Chalpakka forest and ordered them to surrender. However, the Maoists did not surrender and instead opened fire on the security forces, resulting in retaliation by the elite forces.
According to Mulugu Superintendent of Police (SP) Shabarish, the encounter took place in the Eturnagaram forest area. He said, “Seven Maoists died in a police encounter in the Eturnagaram forest area.”
Media reports suggested that search operations were conducted in the area following the encounter.
Seven insurgents were killed in the encounter, with 35-year-old Bhadru alias Kursam Mangu alias Papanna being the notable one. He was the Yellandu-Narsampet area committee commander of the CPI (Maoist) and a member of its Telangana State Committee. Other Maoists killed in the encounter were identified as 43-year-old Egolapu Mallaiah, 22-year-old Mussaki Deval, 23-year-old Mussaki Jamuna, 25-year-old Jai Singh, 22-year-old Kishore, and 23-year-old Kamesh. According to the police, Bhadru was their leader.
The security forces recovered AK-47, G3, and INSAS rifles, besides other weapons and explosives, from the Maoists.
First major encounter in recent years
The encounter that took place on 1st December is the first major one in the area in recent years. Notably, the Maoists have been attempting to reorganise in the Mulugu district of Telangana and revive their activities. On 21st November, two tribal men were reportedly killed by Maoists in the district over suspicion of being police informers. The deceased were identified as Uika Ramesh and Uika Arjun.
As per media reports, Ramesh was working as the secretary of Peruru Gram Panchayat. A note was recovered from their bodies claiming that they were working to gather information and pass it to the state authorities. It is unclear if the killed Maoists were behind the murder of the duo or not.
