Four naxalites belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Janashakti), including state committee member Riyaz, were killed in an encounter with the police in Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh on Friday.
Riyaz was one of the five Janashakti leaders who had participated along with Maoist leaders in the peace talks with the Andhra Pradesh government in Hyderabad in October 2004.
The talks broke down in January, 2005.
Giving details of the incident, Karimnagar superintendent of police B S Chauhan told rediff.com that the exchange of fire took place in the forest area near Badangal village in Mustabad mandal between 1.30am and 2am.
"Four naxalites died in the encounter. One of them is suspected to be Riyaz, state committee member of Janashakti. Another deceased was identified as Srisailam alias Vijay, Karimnagar district committee secretary. The other two naxalites are yet to be identified," the SP said.
"On Thursday night, we got information that senior leaders of Janashakti were conducting a meeting with local squad members to discuss measures to continue their armed struggle -- an euphemism for the killings of innocent persons. A police party was already conducting operations in the area. In fact, combing operations have been going on quite frequently after the spurt in naxalite violence," the police official explained.
Janashakti has alleged that Riyaz and other cadres were picked up by the police from near Hyderabad and killed in a fake encounter after being taken to Karimnagar.
Janashakti leader Chandranna charged the police with hatching a conspiracy to eliminate the top leadership of this naxalite group.