Narayanpur: Days after a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) carried out a major anti-Maoist operation in Narayanpur, neutralising CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Kesava Rao alias Basavaraju, police said that the security team during the operation has recovered weapons looted by the Maoists during several deadly attack carried out by the unlawful group including the Dantewada ambush in 2010.
The security team during the operation also recovered weapons which were looted by the extremists in Gawadi of Narayanpur and Burkapal of Sukma in 2010 and 2017 respectively.
According to the details, the security personnel have recovered as many as 3 AK-47 rifles, 4 semi-loading rifles (SLRs) along 6 INSAS rifles from the site of the encounter. A total of 6 three not three rifles, 12 bore guns, BGL launcher and a significant amount of other arms and ammunition were also recovered during the historic operation carried out by the forces on May 21.
Meanwhile the Narayanpur administration handed over the bodies of 19 Maoists killed in the action to their family members following verifications.
Notably, the family members of Kosi alias Hungi who was killed in the encounter have requested the administration to cremate the body at Narayanpur only, fearing the spread of communicable diseases due to decompositions of dead bodies.
The remaining bodies of 7 Maoists including Basavaraju along with Kosi were cremated in Narayanpur as per the legal procedure with due order from the executive magistrate as there were no clear legal claimants.
The operation launched after receiving crucial intelligence resulted in a major loss to the CPI (Maoist) as a total of 27 hardcore Maoists were neutralised following a fierce exchange of fire in the forests of Kudmel-Kalhaja-Jatloor of Abujhmad. Those killed in the encounter were carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 3.33 crore declared by the Chhattisgarh government.
The encounter led to the neutralisation of Basavaraju, (general secretary of the Maoist group since 2018) a man responsible for killings of hundreds of security personnel and innocent tribals in Bastar and other areas marred by red terror.
Basavaraju who earlier headed the Central Military Commission of the unlawful group was directly or indirectly involved in more than 250 cases. He was also considered the mastermind of several deadly attacks including the Dantewda ambush and the Jheeram Ghati massacre which led to the barbaric killing of Mahendra Karma and others.
It is to be noted that the Maosit outfit in a press release earlier admitted about the killing of 28 of its members including its supreme commander Basavaraju.
The extremists in the press release had appealed to their supporters to organize rallies and meetings across the country, glorifying the death of their dreadful leadership responsible for several deadly attacks on security forces and killings of political representatives, civilians.
It is being reported that the police and intelligence agencies are keeping a strict vigilance over the activities of the underground workers, supporters and over ground workers of the banned Maoist group.
