India communists demand probe into Maoist killing

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NEW DELHI, Nov 26 (AFP): India's communists and a human rights group condemned Saturday the killing of a top Maoist rebel and suggested that the shoot out in which he was killed was staged by security forces.Indian police has been in the spotlight over "fake encounters" or staged killings in the recent past. In 2009, New York-based Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 80 police officers and said nearly all believed illegal detention, torture and even killing were legitimate tools for law enforcement. Police said Maoist military commander Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishnenji, died Thursday in a gunbattle in a forest in the eastern state of West Bengal, striking a major blow to extreme left-wing fighters who control impoverished but mineral-rich swathes of the country.