Maoists in Telangana allegedly killed a man suspected to have been working for them as a courier. The man was allegedly held in captivity for ten days and is suspected to have been strangled to death. Police recovered the man’s body on Sunday. The incident took place at Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana and the deceased has been identified as Eeshwar, from neighbouring Mulugu district.
The Superintendent of Police for Bhadradri Kothagudeem, Sunil Dutt, told PTI that Eeshwar is suspected to have been strangled and his body was recovered from the Charla forest area. According to the information presently available with the police, officials say that the deceased was working for Maoists as a courier. According to family members, Eeswar was under pressure by Maoists to execute a few works, which he refused to do.
Reports about the death came a week after two Maoists were gunned down in an exchange of fire at Mangapet forest area of Mulugu district. A Greyhounds (Anti-Maoist special police unit) team was carrying out combing operations in the area based on a tip-off. Police recovered an SRL rifle and two double barrel shotguns from the two slain Maoists. The police had at the time suspected the two persons to be part of a group that attacked and killed a former Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader on October 11.
Maaduri Bheemeshwar (48) was stabbed to death in front of his wife in Bokkapuram village in Venkatapuram mandal of the district bordering Chhattisgarh. Police say that Bheemeshwar had left political activities and was living a quiet life as a pesticide shop owner. He was murdered allegedly by members of the banned outfit after refusing to give funds to the Maoist party.
In September alone, four instances of police encounters with Maoists were reported. In one instance, as many as eight Maoists were killed. Five of them were gunned down in Bhadradri Kothagudem district. Extensive combing operations by the state Greyhounds are being carried out in Mulugu, along with Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Kothagudem, Asifabad and Adilabad districts in the state.