In a successful operation in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra on Saturday (November 13), security forces killed 26 Maoists in an encounter, including senior Maoist Milind Teltumbde.
“As per the primary identification, Milind Teltumbde was one of the 26 Maoists killed in Saturday’s encounter,” Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Ankit Goyal said on Sunday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its October 2020 charge-sheet filed in the Elgaar Parishad case had said Milind was inspired by his elder brother Anand Teltumbde to join Maoists.
“Milind alias Deepak is expanding the Naxal movement of Maoist in urban areas with the help of his elder brother Anand Teltumbde on the international level and took guidance from him. Milind was inspired by his brother to join the CPI (Maoist) movement,” the NIA charge-sheet read.
The Elgaar Parishad, an evening programme in Pune was organised on December 31, 2017, in which many Maoists participated. On January 1, 2018, massive violence broke out when the Maoists and their sympathisers were celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon.
Maoist Pahaad Singh, who had surrendered in 2018, had told the police that Milind was tasked with the responsibility to create a new territory that allowed rebels easy passage from east to west and vice-versa and a safe abode for senior Maoists.
“He (Milind Teltumbde) was the person who pushed the idea to develop Amarkantak as ‘base area’ of MMC, in a meeting in 2016, in which Central Committee Members (CCM) of the CPI(Maoists) including him were present,” Hindustan Times quoted a senior Indian Police officer (IPS) officer who had interrogated Maoist Pahaad Singh.
While investigating the Elgaar Parishad case, the NIA had unearthed a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A Maoist communication unearthed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) read “If this pace continues, it would mean immense trouble on all fronts… Com Kisan and a few other senior comrades have proposed concrete steps to end the Modi raj.”
It further read “We are thinking along the lines of another Rajiv Gandhi-type incident. It sounds suicidal and there is a good chance that we might fail, but we feel that the party PB/CC must deliberate over our proposal. Targeting his road shows could be an effective strategy. We collectively believe that survival of the party is supreme to all sacrifices.”
