Hyderabad: Three top Maoist leaders of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) were on Monday gunned down by the police team of greyhounds at the border of Mulugu district.
The incident occurred while the police were combing the forest in search of the Maoists. The area in which the encounter took place is said to be under the jurisdiction of the Peruru police station of the Wazedu Mandal of Mulugu district. Speaking of the encounter, Eturunagaram Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ghause Alam mentioned that, the slain Maoists are yet to be identified.
Alam further stated that the police recovered AK 47 and ASLR weapons from the deceased, suspecting that three of them belonged to a military platoon headed by Mandvi Hidma aka Hidmalu, reported Telangana Today. It is to be noted that Hidma is a member of the Central Maoist Committee. Upon being asked whether the Maoist leader had also died in the encounter, the ASP said that the confirmation could only be done after the identification of bodies.
It is said that Hidma had entered the state of Telangana recently, prompting the police to amplify the search operations. He is also known as the face of the Maoist movement in the Bastar district of Chattisgarh.