Police search for escaped naxals turns futile

Hyderabad, July 26 (UNI) The search of the elite anti-naxal police force, the 'Grey Hounds', combing the Nallamala forests for 12 top leaders of the CPI (Maoist) who they believe had escaped the scene of recent encounter in which party state secretary Madhav was killed, had so far proved futile.

According to informed sources in the police department, police believe that Nallamala forest division committee secretary Sudarshan alias Satyam, Guntur district secretary Jeevan alias Prakash and Mahabubnagar district secretary Sambasivudu were among the 12 top leaders who had escaped the encounter.

Despite an intensive combing of the forests, police could not make any headway in tracking down the escaped naxals.

Meanwhile, Maoists are reported to be clearing out of Palutla and Nekkanti areas of the Nallamala forests, so far deemed by them as their fortress, safe from any kind of assault from the police.

The reasons stated by party sources were that police had infiltrated into their ranks when Maoists returned to the forest after the failure of their talks with the government in 2004, in the guise of enthusiastic 'revolutionaries' and had been giving accurate information about the movements of various dalams in the forest.

The second reason for the Maoists moving possibly into the neighbouring Chattisgarh forests is stated to be the failure of the monsoon resulting in reduction of foliage and forest cover for them in the Nallamala forests.

The police are a complacent lot as they could kill the state secretary of the biggest insurgent organisation. Though Anjaiah, and Seelam Naresh, state secretaries of the then Peoples War Group in 1993 and 1999 respectively were also killed in alleged encounters, those encounters were believed to be totally fake.

Despite Civil Liberties groups suspecting the present encounter also to be fake, sources in the police department said it was a field encounter where Madhav fought valiently before dying.

Prakasham district Superintendent of Police Bala Subrahmaniam had recently argued with balladeer Gaddar over a TV channel chat not to deny Madhav of the credit of having fought before giving up his life. The SP said he admired Madhav as he had fought with the police from the front and asked the civil liberties groups not to deny him the credit.

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