Cadre were poisoned, then killed: Maoist

The Communist Party of India (Maoists) has said that Maoists were poisoned and later gunned down in a fake encounter last week in Tadgaon in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.

In a press statement, a Maoist spokesperson Jagan said an informant had tipped off the authorities on their meeting and the police had poisoned the food served to them.

After some time the police went in and shot the Maoists down and claimed that they were killed in an encounter. They cooked up the story of encounter and recovery of bodies.

Maoists have called for a bandh on May 4 to protest against the killing of their comrades in fake encounters in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Bijapur and Sukma districts in Chhattisgarh. Though rumours were making round in villages around Gadchiroli forests, the police and Anti-Naxalite Operations had denied the poisoning charges.

In the twin encounters, 40 Maoists were killed. The viscera of the deceased are being preserved for chemical analysis to thwart the allegations that Maoists were killed after being poisoned.

According to activists, some informant or one of the surrendered Maoists might have leaked the information about the meeting. However, police insist: “They were Maoists…banned and outlawed Naxals…they first fired at the police, we retaliated in which they were killed. We went there based on information that Maoists have assembled and then the firing took place,” they added.

Locals feel an impartial inquiry should be ordered for the truth to come out. Jagan also claimed that Greyhounds of Telangana had killed eight Maoists in Vayupeta in Jigarkonda in Bijapur district and three in Sukma district.