One Maoist killed in encounter, 4 others held
Visakhapatnam: In an exchange of fire (EoF) at Andhra Odisha border, a woman Maoist was killed in the early hours on Friday. She was reportedly involved in the killing of Araku MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma.
The EoF took place near Andrapali forest, in the cut-off area of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB). The armed forces also caught four Maoists including three women after the EoF. The deceased Maoist was identified as N Meena (40), wife of Maoist top gun Gajarla Ravi alias Uday alias Anand and Ganesh.
According to the information, around 15 Maoists led by Meena were spotted by the Greyhounds combing party and the others successfully escaped from the spot. The deceased Nidginda Prameela alias Meena alias Jilani Begum alias Sharadha, was a Divisional Committee Member (DCM) of the CPI (Maoist).
She was one among the top woman Maoists in the region and was the wife of Gajarla Ravi, who is the secretary of AOBSZC (Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee).
Meena who belonged to Pochannapeta area in Warangal district of Telangana was known for her ferocity and brutality and was involved in several major cases in Visakhapatnam region. The police will be shifting her body to either Munchangiput or Pedabayalu for autopsy.
DGP R P Thakur confirmed the EoF and said that the police also recovered one 9 mm carbine rifle and some literature of the outfit from the spot.
According to the police, the four Maoists caught by police are: Jayanthi alias Anjana, Radhika Golluri, Sumala alias Geetha and Rajasekhar Karma.
Police ruled out that reports that some top heads including Maoist heavyweights RK and Chalapathi were present at the spot. Maoists and Armed forces traded bullets for about 15 minutes.
According to the information, as a part of the combing operations at Andhra Odisha Border, the armed forces started their operations since morning. When armed forces reached Andravalli panchayat in the AOB, they noticed that a group of Maoists are moving and alerted the forces.