Hyderabad: The toll in the Gadchiroli district encounter reached 31 after security forces recovered 15 more bodies on Tuesday morning. On Sunday, 16 suspected Maoists were gunned down by the police in an “exchange of fire” in the Kasansur forest in the Bhamragad area of Gadchiroli bordering Telangana and Chhattisgarh states.
Inspector General of Police, Anti-Naxal Operation, Sharad Shelar, said that the bodies were found on the bank of the Indraveli River on Tuesday morning. “All the bodies have been recovered from the same area where Sunday’s encounter had taken place. We can say that overall 31 people were killed in Sunday’s encounter,” the official said.
Another six suspected Maoists were killed in a separate incident in Jimalgatta area of Gadchiroli late on Monday night.
“Of the six Maoists killed in Jimalgatta, four were women. The Divisional Committee member of the CPM in the area, Nandu, was also killed in this encounter. One SLR, one INSAS, and three other weapons were recovered from the spot of this encounter,” the district police said.
Sunday’s encounter had dealt a major blow for the Maoists operating in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh states.
The Maharashtra police, along with the Central Reserve Police Force had taken up a massive operation following inputs of movement of Maoists in the Kasansur forest on Sunday, resulting in the encounter. The police said the Maoists have dealt a big blow to them as they had caused the death of 37 of their colleagues in the last three days. The police had identified two Maoists as natives of Telangana.
