India - Varavara Rao questions Maoist ‘encounter story’

Were the nine Maoists really slain in an exchange of fire with a joint force of Greyhounds, Police and CRPF at Puvarthi forest area in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh? Revolutionary Writers’ Association leader Varavara Rao on Wednesday alleged that the police were lying. He felt it was more than likely that the deaths were the result of a covert police operation and suspected that Maoist Khammam, Karimnagar and Warangal region secretary V Sudhakar was in police custody, notwithstanding the police claim that he was among the dead. Family members of Sudhakar too made it clear his body was not among the dead. Varavara Rao suspected the police were making false claims to torture Sudhakar. He demanded that besides Sudhakar, Maoists Rajireddy, Hari Bhushan and Malla Reddy, who were in the custody of Pamedu police, be produced in court. Varavara Rao visited Bhadrachalam and paid tributes to the slain Maoists and was furious with the Khammam police for not allowing family members to see the mortal remains of the dead Maoists. The Khammam police had disregarded the direction of the AP High Court and the Human Rights Commission to preserve and hand over the bodies to the family members, he alleged. Varavara Rao said all the nine Maoists were SCs and STs who had spent their lives in the struggle to protect valuable minerals of their forest areas. He said the Maoists had opposed the handing over of forest wealth to multi-national companies and demanded that the government conduct post-mortem of all the bodies in Bhadrachalam and hand them over to the family members. He said home minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, DGP V Dinesh Reddy and Intelligence DG K Mahender Reddy had turned down his appeal to conduct post-mortem in Bhadrachalam and handover bodies to the families. http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/Varavara-Rao-questions-Maoist-%E2%80%98encounter-story%E2%80%99/2013/04/18/article1549984.ece