5 Maoist militia members held

Kothagudem: Superintendent of Police Dr G Vineeth on Friday informed that police arrested five militia members of the banned CPI (Maoist) party in Cherla mandal in the district.

The local police and a special party of CRPF 81Bn and CRPF 141 Bn came across them during a joint combing operation taken up in the forest of Yerrampadu area.

They were identified as Vedama Bhimaiah, SodiMooya, PodiamAdamaiah and Punem Nagesh. They belong to Nimmalagdem and Madakam Nagesh of Jattapadu under the limits of Kistaram police station in Chhattisgarh state. They had been working under the Revolutionary People's Committee (RPC) for the past two years. They were involved in planting booby traps for killing police personnel in the forest during the PLGA week held last year.

The SP observed that the Maoists had lost their base in the state and were recruiting innocent Adivasis of Chhattisgarh and engaging them in unlawful tasks in Telangana areas. He warned the Adivasis against cooperating with the outlawed. He said many members of the Maoist party who were vexed with its ideology were surrendering before the police. He called upon the Maoist cadre to join the mainstream and contact contact nearest police station or the SP office through their relatives to lay down arms.

Additional SP (Operations) T Sai Manohar, ASP Akshansh Yadav, CRPF 141Bn Additional Commandant Kamalveer Yadav, Cherla CI B Ashok and others were present.