2 jawans killed in Chhattisgarh were to get married

Two jawans of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Andhra Pradesh who were killed along with 20 others in the exchange of fire with the Maoists in the forests of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday night, were waiting to get married soon, their family members said

Two jawans of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Andhra Pradesh who were killed along with 20 others in the exchange of fire with the Maoists in the forests of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday night, were waiting to get married soon, their family members said.

HT Image

22 security personnel were killed in one of the deadliest attacks by led by PLGA (Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army) battalion no. 1 led by Madvi Hidma in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. Five soldiers were killed on Saturday when the gunfight erupted inside a forest near Jonaguda village on the Bijapur-Sukma border. 17 more bodies were recovered on Sunday.

The wedding of 27-year-old Routhu Jagadish, a resident of Vizianagaram town, was fixed for May 22 while the parents of 28-year-old Sakhamuri Muralikrishna of Gudipudi village of Sattenapalli block in Guntur district were looking for suitable alliances for him.

“Jagadish spoke to me on Friday and discussed about the arrangements to be made for the marriage next month. He said he would come to Vizianagaram this week on a holiday to do some shopping and other personal works. We were all waiting for his arrival,” said Jagadish’s father, Routhu Simhachalam, a worker in a petrol bunk.

Jagadish’s mother Ramanamma was inconsolable.

“Jagadish joined the CRPF in 2010 and got into the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) squad because of his daring nature. He was very active and jovial person. He has lots of friends in Vizianagaram,” Ramesh, one of his neighbourhood friends said.

Hundreds of people took out a rally by holding tricolour, placards and banners in Vizianagaram town, raising “Jagadish Amar Rahe” slogans on Monday. They observed a shutdown at Gajularega area as a mark of respect to the departed soul.

Meanwhile, Muralikrishna also joined the CRPF in 2010 and had been posted in CoBRA-210 wing. His father, Ravindra Babu,a private employee and mother Vijaya Kumar, a homemaker, were also planning to get him married this summer.

“The family recently built a new house keeping in mind Muralikrishna’s wedding. He came home in February on a holiday and gave a green signal to his parents to look for alliances. He told them he would come back to the village once the marriage is fixed,” said one of Muralikrishna’s relatives.

Expressing sorrow over the killing of the two bright jawans, state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Mondayannounced an ex gratia of ₹30 lakh each to the bereaved families.

He extended his heartfelt condolences to the family members of Jagadish and Muralikrishna, an official release from the chief minister’s office said.

Meanwhile, the police administration in the Telangana districts of Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu and Jayashankar Bhupalpally, sounded a high alert in the villages which are on the borders of Chhattisgarh about the possible sneaking of Maoists and their supporting tribals into Telangana crossing Godavari river.

A senior police official in the Bhadradri Kothagudem district said Terrem area, where the deadly encounter took place, was hardly 60 km away from Charla block in the district. “Whenever there is a massive encounter in Chhattisgarh forests, the Maoists make an attempt to cross the Godavari river and take shelter in the border villages of Telangana for sometime before retreating to their hideouts,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Within hours of the encounter killings, hundreds of police forces belonging to the CRPF, greyhounds (elite anti-Maoist forces of the Telangana police) and special party police of the districts swung into action and intensified the combing operations.“In coordination with the Chhattisgarh police, we have kept a watch on all the areas where there is a possibility of the Maoists entering the Telangana for taking shelter,” the official added.