Indian police say they have killed a senior Maoist leader during a battle with the rebels in a densely forested region of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Cherukuri Rajkumar, commonly known as "Azad," was reportedly shot dead on Friday as he was trying to cross into the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, P Pramod Kumar, a senior Andhra Pradesh police officer said.
But Maoists denied the claim and said that Azad, a member of the group's central committee, was killed in police custody.
In a telephone call to journalists, Gudsa Usendi, a spokesman for the Maoists, accused police of killing Azad after capturing him a day earlier in the forest, nearly 300km north of Hyderabad.
Associated with the Maoist movement for more than 35 years, Azad was allegedly involved in attempts on the lives of two former state chief ministers, and carried a reward of 1.2 million rupees ($25,000) on his head.
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