Several police personnel accompanied by villagers walked together in a candlelight rally here on Monday evening, marking their silent protest against the killing of COBRA jawans by Maoists in Bijapur-Sukma area of Chhattisgarh State on Saturday.
Two COBRA Battalion personnel from the State, identified as Sakhamuri Murali Krishna of Guntur district and Routhu Jagadeesh of Vizianagaram district, were among the 22 deceased CRPF jawans in the encounter that occurred in Tarrem forests deep inside the Maoist stronghold.
Murali Krishna and Jagadeesh, of the COBRA 210 Battalion, joined the CRPF a few years ago. They were part of the ill-fated operation in which over 400 heavily-armed Maoists encircled and attacked the combing party.
Police officers K.V. Ramana, P. Ravindra Babu and M. Keshava Rao participated in the rally accompanied by villagers. They raised slogans condemning the bloodshed of the Maoists, and paid tributes to the slain jawans.
In Krishna district, Superintendent of Police M. Ravindranath Babu and other officers paid homage to the jawans who laid down their lives in the line of duty. In a meeting held at Machilipatnam on Monday, the SP and other officers condemned the massacre of the Maoists, in which 22 jawans lost their lives, besides 32 jawans getting injured.
“It is unfair on the part of the Maoists, who claim to be fighting for the poor, to kill young jawans who were discharging their duty,” the police officers said.
