Hyderabad, Dec 2 : The Telangana High Court on Monday directed police to preserve the bodies of seven Maoists killed in an alleged exchange of fire with police in Mulugu district on Sunday.

The police were also directed to allow the family members and relatives of the Maoists to see the bodies.

The court issued the orders on a petition by a civil liberties group, which alleged that the Maoists were killed in a fake encounter, and adjourned further hearing on the petition to Tuesday.

The petitioner alleged that Maoists were captured by police after their food was mixed with sedatives. He claimed that they were tortured and killed in cold blood.

The counsel for the petitioner told the court that the bodies of the slain Maoists bore grievous injuries.

The court was also told that police shifted the bodies for postmortem without allowing the family members to see them.

The government, however, informed the court that forensic experts from the Kakatiya Medical College conducted a postmortem on the bodies and it was video recorded. The court was told that the police had to shift the bodies immediately for postmortem examination due to a threat.

Seven Maoists, including a state committee member of the outlawed CPI-Maoist, were killed during an encounter by the anti-Maoist force Greyhounds in Chalpaka forests in Eturanagaram mandal of Mulugu district early Sunday. The Greyhounds force engaged with the group during combing operations.

The slain extremists include Bhadru alias Kursam Mangu, 35, commander of the Yellandu-Narsampet area committee and a member of the CPI-Maoist's Telangana State Committee. The other six Maoists were identified as Egolapu Mallaiah, 43, Mussaki Deval, 22, Mussaki Jamuna, 23, Jai Singh, 25, Kishore, 22, and Kamesh, 23.

District Superintendent of Police Sabari said the encounter occurred in the early hours of the day when Maoists, upon spotting security forces, opened fire. In retaliation, the Greyhound forces engaged in a gun battle lasting half an hour. Upon securing the area, the forces recovered the bodies of seven Maoists.

The forces recovered an AK-47, an INSAS rifle, .303 rifles, and other firearms.

SP Sabari commended the efforts of the security forces and reiterated the district police's commitment to eliminating Maoist influence. Investigations are ongoing to trace further links and disrupt their activities, he said.

This was the first major encounter in Mulugu district in recent years and it took place amid attempts by the banned outfit to revive its activities in the region.

The district had recently seen the presence of Maoists. On November 21, the extremists hacked to death two persons on suspicion of being police informers in Mulugu district.

The Maoists had resorted to the action in Penugolu Colony in Wajedu mandal headquarters.

/IANS