Telangana remained Maoist-free in 2020

Hyderabad: The Director General of Police (DGP) of Telangana, M Mahender Reddy, while while presenting the annual performance of Telangana police on Wednesday, said that they thwarted all the attempts of Maoists to revive their unlawful activities in the State.

"We worked towards the goal of crime-free, Maoist-free Telangana though Maoists from Chhattisgarh attempted to enter and set up bases in Telangana because they were instructed by the Maoist Central Committee to set up a Telangana State Committee by entering here. But our police teams in inter-state border districts worked very diligently, conducted operations regularly and took intelligence-based action. The Greyhounds (the elite anti- naxal force of Telangana police), district police, special police, all worked hard together and achieved positive results.

"However there were 11 exchanges of fire with Maoists, resulting in deaths of 11 Maoists/Naxalites. A total of 135 Maoists have been arrested, of whom two are state committee members and 4 district committee members besides as many as 4 area committee members. Also 30 out of the 33 districts in Telangana remained free from violent incidents of CPI (Maoist)," added the State police boss.

Reddy stated, "After going to Chhattisgarh, the Maoists attempted to re-establish themselves in Telangana. But the Telangana police successfully foiled their attempts. On recruitment of cadre in Maoist party, the DGP said that there was no recruitment from Telangana. However, 23 Maoists hailing from Chhattisgarh were arrested from bordering areas."

The DGP further stated "We cannot say there is no threat of Maoists in the State, because they are in their efforts to prove their presence. But we can say that we are 100% successful in preventing their intrusion into the Sstate. We have also seized 22 firearms, one AK-47, one SLR, one carbine, one 9mm pistol, one 8 mm rifle and 15 other firearms besides other explosives, ammunition and amount to the tune of Rs 23 lakh cash recovered."