Police gun down two top Maoists in state

Police gunned down two top Maoists, Shakamuri Appa Rao and Solipeta Kondal Reddy alias Tech Ramana, in two separate incidents in Nallamala forest and Warangal on Friday.

Appa Rao, a CPI Maoist state committee member, and Kondal Reddy, a weapons expert, were both heading action teams which were allegedly on the prowl to target politicians and police officers.

The killing of the two top guns is a big blow to the Maoist movement that was trying to make a major comeback in the state.

The Prakasam superintendent of police, Mr V. Naveenchand, said that a combing party spotted a group of five Maoists on top of a hillock near Nerajamula Thanda under Pullalacheruvu police station limits at around 7.50 am and had encircled them.

“There was an exchange of fire in which one Maoist was killed,” said the SP. “He was later identified as Shakamuri Appa Rao. Four others escaped and we are searching for them.”

Mr Naveenchand added that police recovered two important documents from Appa Rao and was analysing their contents.

Kondal Reddy, on the other hand, was killed in an exchange of fire that occurred at Bandala forest area under Tadwai police stations limits of Warangal around 8.15 am. Police recovered an AK-47 rifle from the spot.

Appa Rao is wanted by the state police in high-profile cases including the attempt to murder the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, at Alipiri.

Meanwhile, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties termed the twin encounters at Warangal and Nallamala as fake and has approached the State Human Rights Commission seeking action on the director-general of police, Mr R.R. Girish Kumar. In response to the petition, the SHRC directed the superintendents of Warangal and Prakasam districts to submit reports on encounters by March 15.