Top Maoist leader, 7 others killed in police encounter

 In a major setback to the Maoists, Venkatapuram Area Committee secretary Kunja Veeriah alias Lachana of Bhadrachalam Division in Telangana and seven others were killed in an encounter with the police.

Five women Maoist cadres were also killed in the encounter that took place at Gottepadu forest area close to the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border in south Bastar region during the early hours of Tuesday.

Sources said Telangana Maoist party secretary Haribhushan aka Narayana and another senior Maoist leader Bade Chokka Rao managed to escape but Haribhushan’s wife Sammaka alias Sarada was among the killed.

The police recovered one AK 47, three SLRs and three other firearms from the slain Maoists and the bodies were shifted to Bhadrachalam Area Hospital in two helicopters.

According to Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma, the encounter took place when a search party of Telangana Grey Hounds and the Chhattisgarh Police came across the Maoists and surrounded them.

The encounter that went on for an hour and a half, two police personnel were also injured.