Members of the CPI (Maoists) allegedly set fire to four earth movers (JCB machines) at Nurmati in G Madugula mandal in Visakhapatnam, late on Thursday night.

The Maoists consisting of 30 armed men reached the village and set alight the machines which were being used to lay optic fibre broadband cable of BSNL.

The cables were being laid in the area in order to connect the agency schools with broadband connection for digital classes, TOI reported.

The report also quotes Paderu Dy SP as saying, "We came to know about the incident on Friday morning. Armed cadres in huge numbers set fire to the vehicles and no leaflet or press note was left in the area."

According to reports, the incident took place between 10.40pm and 11.10pm on Thursday night, after the armed rebels passed through Nurmathi and Vakapalli areas.

The armed members allegedly beat up the machine operators and also allegedly threatened the contractor of the cable laying work, K Venkat Reddy of  DC reported.

However, District Rural SP Rahul Dev Sharma, said a case has been booked and police have reached the spot