Andhra Pradesh   

Three naxalites killed in exchange of fire in A.P.

Staff Reporter

Encounter brings big relief to business community

KARIMNAGAR: Three naxalites belonging to the CPI-ML Prathigatana group were killed in an exchange of fire with the police on the outskirts of Vilasagar village of Jammikunta mandal in the early hours of Thursday.

The victims were Prathigatana Jammikunta and Chityala area committee commander Balyam Gattaiah alias Janardhan alias Naveen, deputy commander Velpula Tirupathi and the dalam member Sampath Rao.

Police sources said that on credible information about the group entering the Jammikunta town to resort to extortion, the police launched vehicle-checking on the outskirts of the town. Around 12.30 a.m. the police noticed three persons moving on a motorcycle and the police forced them to stop. But, the naxalites escaped from the scene by opening fire and the police retaliated the fire killing the three naxalites.

The police recovered a .38 country-made revolver, two 12 bore tapanchas, Rs. 10,000 in cash, a cellular phone, a pocket diary and the motorcycle from the spot.

The encounter has brought much relief to the business community of the Jammikunta town as naxalites used to threaten them and extort funds at gun-point, the police sources said.

According to a Warangal report, the Mandal Parishad Development Office was partially damaged when a powerful landmine blew off in the afternoon.

According to the police, a group of naxals belonging to the CPI(Maoist) planted two landmines late on Wednesday night and asked watchman to inform the police. However, the police suspected that there could be ambush by the naxals and did not prefer to reach the spot that night.

On Thursday morning, a police party, including a bomb disposal squad, reached the office and tried to defuse the mines. They successfully defused one, but could not do the other one. The naxals planted the mine under a grenade taking out the pin so that any small movement in landmine could blow it off.

As the last resort, the police party detonated the mine which resulted in collapse of two rooms of the office.

The building was partially damaged. The loss was estimated at Rs. 7 lakhs.

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