HYDERABAD: Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxal force of Telangana State Police, gunned down 10 members of the Maoist Party in an alleged encounter in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on Friday. Officials also claimed that the official spokesperson of the banned party, Jagan alias Haribhushan, was one among those killed. However, a press release and audio message was purportedly issued by Jagan on Saturday that claimed he was not dead and pledged to avenge the encounter.
The press release ‘addressed’ by Jagan alias Haribhushan also claimed that he along with Bade Chokka Rao and Kankanala Raji Reddy were safe and the police were “misleading” people.
“Police know who were killed in the fake encounter. They are deliberately creating confusion. The 10 Maoists killed include Dadaboina Swamy alias Prabhakar and Ratna of Hanmkonda. The rest are from Dantewada and Sukma,” it claimed.
The release also accused K Chandrasekhar Rao of encouraging fake encounters and attacked Chief Ministers of both Telangana and Chhattisgarh for trying to “push tribals out and facilitating the looting of their lands by corporate bodies.”
An audio clip allegedly released by Maoist Party and believed to be a voice recording of Jagan is also doing the rounds. “It was purely a fake encounter. Maoists were taking rest after interacting with people. It was then that police forces rounded them up and started firing at them. To damage the reputation of the party, the police are deliberately sending wrong information,” the clip claimed. The party also vowed to continue its struggle in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra.