Andhra on high alert after Kishanji's killing
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Anticipating revenge attacks by Maoists in the wake of the killing of their top leader Kishanji in West Bengal, police in Andhra Pradesh have gone on high alert.
Police in Andhra Pradesh, Kishanji's native state, stepped up security, especially on the Andhra-Orissa border. A police officer said the politicians and others on the hit-list of Maoists were asked to be careful.
Additional police forces have been mobilised on north coastal Andhra bordering Orissa. The elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds launched combing operations as a precautionary measure. Police were also checking vehicles in tribal areas.
Security has been beefed up at police stations in the north Andhra districts of Vijayanagaram, Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam.
Security was tightened for former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is currently on a visit to Visakhapatnam district. Naidu had escaped an assassination bid by Maoists in 2003.
An alert was also sounded in Khammam district bordering Chhattisgarh and in the border areas with Maharashtra.
Police have also gone on alert in the north Telangana districts, which were once the stronghold of Maoists.
In Warangal district, police summoned surrendered Maoists and counselled them. The security was tightened along Godavari river and police also checked the houses of suspects in areas affected by Maoist violence in the past.
Security was also tightened in Karimnagar district, the native district of Kishanji.
Fifty-five-year-old Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji, the number three in Communist Party of India (CPI-Maoist) ranks, was killed Thursday by security forces during a gun battle in Burishol forest in West Bengal's West Midnapore district, police said.
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