The forests of Telangana have been abuzz with activity. The state police’s Greyhounds, which specialises in anti-insurgency operations, have been combing Telangana’s dense forests in districts such as Komuram Bhim-Asifabad, Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalapally and Mulugu, Kothagudem.
Last week, an armed group of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) gave the police forces the slip, following an alleged exchange of fire in the forests of Mallepallithogu in Kothagudem district. A similar incident also took place in Tukkuguda of Tiryani forests in KB Asifabad district.
News on 19.07.2020
— ASP MULUGU (@sdpomulugu) July 19, 2020
మావోయిస్టులు అభివృద్ధి నిరోధకులు : తెలంగాణ డిజిపి శ్రీ కే మహేందర్ రెడ్డి ఐపిఎస్.
ఈరోజు ఏటూరు నాగారం సబ్ డివిజన్ లోని వెంకటాపురం పోలీస్ స్టేషన్ నందు ములుగు భూపాలపల్లి కి చెందిన పోలీస్ అధికారులతో ఉన్నత స్థాయి సమీక్ష సమావేశం నిర్వహించారు.@TelanganaDGP @MuluguSP pic.twitter.com/Uu5gT3MRAW
On July 17, the state Director General of Police (DGP) Mahendar Reddy made a whirlwind aerial tour of Asifabad, followed the next day by Mulugu and Kothagudem to take stock of the Maoist activities and movements.
The DGP alleged that the top rung of CPI(Maoist) is leading an affluent lifestyle even as they made Adivasis scapegoats to their cause.
Less than a week after the police and Maoists crossed paths, the interior tribal regions are witnessing the combing operations under the supervision of top officials of state police. Posters announcing the reward for information' on the presence and whereabouts of Maoists have been put up across the undivided Adilabad district.
Mailarepu Adellu alias Bhaskar, Varghesh, Mangu, Ajay, and Ramu are reportedly the action team members of CPI(Maoist) who had escaped recently.
Even as the police are quick to assert that they will 'thwart' the attempts of Maoists to regain lost ground, reports of the CPI (Maoist) constituting 12 new committees in Telangana state is raising eyebrows.
However, officials said the CPI (Maoist) committees in Telangana are not new, and have been in existence for some time. They claimed that CPI(Maoist)’s action committees for Telangana were in fact formed and operating in Chhattisgarh with members now attempting to make their presence felt in the Telugu state.
Earlier reports claim that the outlawed CPI(Maois)t has come under the commandership of Nambala Keshava Rao, who became General Secretary some years ago. The top brass of CPI(Maoist) is on the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)’s most wanted list from the Telugu states.
A senior police officer from Kothagudem district also said that Maoists are threatening the Guttikoyas tribes, who live on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Kothagudem Sunil Dutt told TNM that the combing operations by special forces is still underway.
He said, "A team of ten members fled following an exchange of fire at Mallepallithogu. They don't have any support among people locally, we suspect they are hiding by threatening a few tribals."
Forests in northern districts of Telangana' which share borders with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have also become close points of watch with a spurt in action after years.
Human Rights Forum (HRF) in a statement alleged that the special forces of the police are harassing Adivasis in interior areas by foisting false cases in the name of combing operations against Maoists. Gorrepati Madhava Rao, HRF president and Tirupatayya Secretary dubbed the reported 'exchange of fire' between police and Maoists in KB Asifabad forests as a "concocted" story by police.