Hyderabad: The killing of eight people in an encounter by the police of Bhadradari Kothagudem district has come under criticism from the Communist Party of India and other Left wing organisations in Telanagana.
Eight members of a newly-formed CPIML Chandrapulla Reddy Bata group were killed in an encounter in Gangaram forest area under Tekulapally Mandal on Thursday morning, but policemen involved in the action did not suffer any injuries.
While the district superintendent of police Amber Kishore Jha said the firing was started first by the ultras and the police fired in self defence, Left wing groups termed it a “fake encounter”.
This was the first major encounter since the formation of Telangana state in June 2014.
The new group was formed by the extremists who earlier belonged to other outfits like Chandranna Group and CPIML Janashakti. Those killed include the group’s state secretary Etti Kumar alias Rakhi.
Reacting strongly to the killings, former MLA of CPIML New Democracy Gunmadi Narasaiah said these people were picked up from somewhere else and bumped off in the name of encounter. “This has exposed the false claim of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that there will be no place for encounters in Telangana”.
B Hemanth Rao, district secretary of CPI demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Ghadaar, the revolutionary poet also demanded a probe into the incident. “It is first encounter in Telangana and it was fake”, he said.
S.P. Ambar Kishore Jha said that the group was involved in several offences including extortion from contractors.
