Hyderabad, Nov. 20 -- Seven Maoists of the banned CPI (Maoist) Party were shot dead in an exchange of fire with police in Maredumilli forests of Andhra Pradesh's Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Wednesday, marking the second encounter in the last 24 hours in the same region. Dreaded CPI (M) commander and central committee member Madvi Hidma alias Santosh and five other members were killed in a fierce encounter in the Maredumilli forests on Tuesday. District superintendent of police (SP) Amit Bardar said the exchange of fire took place between 5 am and 5.45 am near a hill located approximately 7.5 km from the Maredumilli police station. He said, "The operation, code-named as 'Operation Sambhav' began early Wednesday when combing teams of the elite anti-Maoist forces and CRPF traced a group of armed Maoists moving deep inside the forest pockets." "As the forces closed in, a heavy exchange of fire ensued, resulting in the death of seven members of the CPI (Maoist) including top ranking leaders of Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) committee who were neutralised," Bardar said, adding the deceased included four men and three women. The deceased include Mettu Joga Rao alias Tech Shankar, the special zonal committee member in-charge of AOB division, and Jyothy, a divisional committee member and commander of the protection team for Maoist party's former general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavraj, who was killed in encounter in May this year. The others are: Suresh alias Ramesh, chief of the Maoist party's communication wing and a Special Zonal Committee member; Lokesh alias Ganesh, an area committee member, who also served as commander of the Jagargonda area militia; Srinu alias Vasu, Jagargonda deputy commander....