Police unearthed as many as 110 booby traps set up by cadres of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) in the forests near Yarrampadu village in Cherla Mandal (administrative sub-division) in Bhadradri Kothagudem District of Telangana on November 3, reports Telangana Today. Circle Inspector (CI) of Police, B Ashok in a statement stated that Cherla Police, Special Party personnel and 141 Bn ‘A’ Coy Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel jointly carried out a combing operation in the forests and found the booby traps laid in the hillocks near Yarrampadu village. The Police team removed and seized over 500 iron and wooden spikes planted in 110 pits. Maoists threatened and forced villagers of Puttaparthi, Pesarlapadu, Nimmalagudem, Jettepadu and other villages along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh State border to dig pits to plant booby traps, he said. Maoists are setting up booby traps targetting the Police personnel. But the booby traps have been injuring and killing cattle and innocent tribal people when they unknowingly stepped on the traps. Many people from Pusuguppa, Battinapalli, Chennapuram, Yarrampadu, Cherla and other villages have suffered severe injuries and lost limbs because of booby traps and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosions, CI, Ashok said.
Meanwhile, twenty Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) ‘militia members’, including several minors, surrendered before the Police in Bhadradri Kothagudem District of Telangana on November 3, reports The Times of India. The surrendered ‘militia members’ are from villages on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border. Police said that the militia had claimed that they surrendered since their handlers in CPI-Maoist party alleged were forcing them to attend training. In the last few months, over 200 ‘militia members’ of CPI-Maoist surrendered, citing their disagreement with the ideology followed by Maoists. The surrendered members told Police that they had joined the party a year ago.