Gun Fire at Chhattisgarh Telangana Border

What is the issue?

10 Maoists and a Grey Hounds commando (Telangana special police) were killed in an exchange of fire on the Chattisgarh - Telangana border region.

 How did the situation evolve?                           

• The Encounter - Following specific intelligence reports, a joint police operation between the states of Telangana and Chhattisgarh was under way.
• The police search teams run into large group of rebels (70 to 80 Maoists) in forests on border between the states.
• In the ensuing that broke out between the rebels and the anti-terror armed special police forces, 11 people (10 Maoists and 1 police commando) died.
• The encounter is said to have lasted 30 minutes and the bodies of 10 Maoists were found later at the encounter site in Telangana.
• The Aftermath - One AK-47 rifle, five Indian New Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles, one Self-Loading Rifle, two single bore rifles were recovered.  
• Also, a piston, three claymore mines and six rocket bombs, one radio and Rs. 41,000 in cash seized from the encounter spot.
• Bodies are currently being recovered from the encounter sight via- helicopters and are likely to be sent for autopsy subsequently.

What are the speculations?  

• The Dead - Maoist party’s Khammam-Karimnagar-Waragal (KKW) secretary Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar is said to be among the slain Maoists.
• He carried a reward of Rs. 30 lakh on his head and was accused of involvement in over 50 criminal cases.
• Also, it was initially speculated that that top Maoist leader Hari Bhushan was among the dead, but it later emerged that he had escaped. 
• The Doubts - Varavara Rao, a member of the Revolutionary Writers’ Association, raised doubts about the genuineness of the gunfight.
• A petition has been filed in the High Court, seeking direction to the police to follow Supreme Court guidelines related to encounters.

• It has been demanded that the bodies of the deceased Maoists be photographed at the site of the incident and then be taken for post-mortem.
• Also, the court has asked the police to preserve the bodies for now.

Source: The Hindu