9 Maoists killed in Chattis encounter

5 of them women, several arms recovered Khammam: Nine Maoists, including five women, were killed and several others injured in a gunfight with security forces in the Maoist hotbed of Puwarti forest area in Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh on the border with Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. It is reliably learnt that four Maoists have been taken into custody by the police forces and top leaders are suspected to be among them. None among the police personnel was injured in the incident. Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of CRPF personnel, Chhattisgarh police and Greyhounds from Andhra Pradesh carried out an intensive combing in the area early on Tuesday. They were said to have come across a meeting of a large number of Maoists and the latter opened fire on the police personnel, police said. A fierce encounter ensued and police killed nine Maoists. Later, they identified eight of the deceased. Maoist secretary for Khammam, Karimnagar and Warangal districts, Sudhakar, his wife and a district committee secretary Pushpakka, Karimnagar district Mahadevpur area secretary Kukkala Raju, his wife and district committee member Narsakka, and Maoist committee members Seetha, Ajay, Arelli Venkati were identified by the police. Two more women were yet to be identified. Though, it was suspected major Maoist leaders were killed in the encounter, later it was revealed that apart from Sudhakar, none of the other deceased was a major leader of the outlawed party. The bodies were shifted in a special helicopter to a hospital at Bhadrachalam under the supervision of Khammam district SP Ranganath. After post-mortem, some persons privy to it said on condition of anonymity that the injuries pointed to one-side domination in the firing. Their heads had grievous wounds and some were blown away, they said. The bodies are being arranged to be handed over to their relatives. Earlier, the villagers of Puwarthy had a heated argument with the cops over two unidentified bodies. Their demand to be given possession of the bodies was rejected by the police who said any handing over would be done only after post-mortem. Though the police initially announced that Maoist Central Committee leaders Kankanala Raji Reddy, Commander Sukhdev alias Padem Bhaskar had participated in the party meeting, they, however, did not release any details regarding them later. They were suspected to have escaped from the encounter scene. Agencies add: In Raipur, Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Himanshu Gupta said that, "On spotting the security forces, the ultras opened fire and in the retaliatory action, nine rebels were killed and several others were injured." In Delhi, Union Home Secretary R K Singh complimented the forces for the "successful" operation and said no security personnel were injured. According to senior security officials, some more Naxals were killed but their bodies could not be retrieved. "Bodies of five women and four men have been recovered and have been sent by a helicopter for post-mortem. A tenth body has been spotted by security forces but it could not be retrieved," a senior official involved in the operation said.