Andhra Pradesh police on Monday said they have arrested 31 Communist Party of India- Marxist Leninist Janashakti leaders and cadres in Karimnagar and Warangal districts.
Police said no less than 40 weapons, 50 grenades, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and Rs 13 lakh in cash were seized.
They said the arrests would marginalise and eventually wipe out the Janashakti in north Telangana districts. The party, which had participated in the aborted peace talks with the government along with CPI-Maoists, had 70 underground cadres. With 31 of them behind bars, the strength dwindled to less than 40, including the party's central committee secretary Amar.
However, the Janashakti alleged that its leaders and cadres were picked up from different places over a fortnight and their arrests were being made public now.
Earlier, police had killed Janashakti central committee member Riyaz, along with three others, in an encounter in Karimnagar district on July 1.
At that time, the Janashakti alleged that Riyaz and others were caught by police in Hyderabad and thereafter eliminated in a fake encounter in Karimnagar.