Kothagudem: 3 Maoist militia members arrested

Kothagudem: Three CPI (Maoist) militia members, who were engaged in planting land mines and bombs, were arrested by the police in Pusuguppa forest in Cherla mandal in the district on Friday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) G Vineeth revealed the details of arrested Maoists revealed the details of the arrested Maoists.

He said the banned Maoist militants were arrested during the combing operation conducted by the district police and CRPF personnel.

The three Maoists were identified as Madvi Unga, Kovasi Idma and Madvi Unga of Usur tahsil of Bhijapur district in neighboring Chattisgargh State. They had been working as the militia members of Pujari Kanker Revolutionary People's Committee (RPC) for the past three years.

They were working under the guidelines of Maoist leaders and worked collecting party funds, essential commodities and vegetables from the tribals and mobilise tribals on activities of their groups, he said.

They were also engaged in tipping off Maoist leaders about the police combing parties movements, besides planting land mines, pressure bombs and setting up booby traps in podu lands and forests between the boarders of Chattisgargh-Telangana States.

The arrested Maoists had setup over 100 booby traps in the forests bordering Pusuguppa in December 2020 to target the police. This year they planted pressure mines in the forests close to the newly established CRPF camp at Pusuguppa.

Because of pressure mines three cows owned by adivasis had died and two were injured. As a result the tribals feared to take their cattle for grazing in the forests and cultivate their podu lands. Panicked at the Maoist's mindless acts, tribals were complaining to the police. The police and CRPF forces were appreciated for treating injured cows and providing compensation for the dead cattle. Strict action would be taken against the Maoists, who were undermining the lives of tribals and their cattle, the SP said.