Key Maoist leader among 7 killed in Telangana encounter

Seven CPI (Maoist) members, including a ₹20 lakh bounty leader, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Telangana's Mulugu district.

Seven members of the banned CPI (Maoist), including a senior leader carrying a ₹20 lakh reward, were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Mulugu district of Telangana on Sunday, the deadliest such firefight in the state in several years.

Maoist rebels train in a forest area. (File Photo)(HT_PRINT)

The encounter took place at 6.18 am in Pulakomma village in the Chalpaka forest area of Eturnagaram block, said Mulugu district superintendent of police P Shabarish.

The two sides engaged during a combing mission by the Greyhounds, Telangana’s anti-Maoist force, which launched an operation after Maoist rebels killed two tribal youth on November 23. The encounter coincides with the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Guerilla Army martyrs’ week.

“The security forces encountered a group of 12-13 Maoists who opened fire. The police retaliated,” Shabarish said. “After the gunfire ended, police found seven bodies while others are believed to have fled into the forests.”

This is only the second major operation in Telangana in 10 years, following the killing of 10 Maoists in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district in March 2018. In September, six Maoists, including squad commander Lachanna who carried a ₹10 lakh reward, were killed in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

Among the dead was Telangana state committee member Kursam Mangu, 35, also known as Bhadru or Papanna, from Cheramangi village of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh. He carried a ₹20 lakh reward.

The other identified casualties were Peddapalli district committee member Egolapu Mallaiah (Madhu), 43, from Rajapur village; Eturnagaram area committee member Mussaki Deval (Karunakar), 22, from Usur village in Bijapur; and area committee member Mussaki Jamuna, 23, from Porrowada village of Bairamgharh district in Chhattisgarh.

Unconfirmed reports identified the remaining three as party members Jai Singh, 25, Kishore, 22, and Kamesh, 23, all from Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.

“We seized two AK-45 rifles, one G-3 rifle, one Insas rifle, one .303 rifle, a single shot pistol, a country-made pistol and kit bags, besides revolutionary literature from the encounter spot,” Shabarish said.

The region has seen intensified anti-Maoist operations.

A senior police official earlier attributed the recent encounters to Operation Kagar, which has intensified pressure on Maoist groups in Chhattisgarh’s forests. “Some Maoists are trying to enter the border areas in search of a safe zone,” the official said at the time of the September encounter.

While Maoist activity in Telangana has been minimal since the state’s formation a decade ago, occasional violence persists in border areas of Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu and Jayashankar Bhupalpally districts adjacent to Chhattisgarh.

Intense combing operations continue as security forces track the escaped Maoists, Shabarish said in reference to the latest incident.