In a blow to the Maoists, one of their top leaders and spokesperson was killed in an encounter with the Andhra Pradesh police in Adilabad district in the wee hours today, police said. Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, a member of the CPI (Maoists) Central Committee, was killed in an encounter in the forest area at Vankhidi, they said. He was said to be in 50s. Acting on information that some Maoists were coming to Andhra Pradesh from Maharashtra, a police team was conducting checks in Vankhidi area last night and they came across the ultras at around 2300 hours, they said.

The Maoists fired at the police, which retaliated, and the exchange of fire continued till 0200 hours, they said adding two bodies have been recovered. Some surrendered Maoists have identified one of the deceased as Azad and the other body was yet to be identified, police said.