Gadchiroli Naxal death toll rises to 37 as 15 more bodies recovered

Nagpur/Mumbai, Apr 24: With the recovery of 15 more bodies on Tuesday, the death toll of Naxalites gunned down in the forests of Bhamragad-Etapally talukas of Gadchiroli district has increased to 37.

The bodies were recovered from Indravati River near the April 22 encounter spot in Kasnasur area of Gadchiroli district.

Maharashtra IGP Anti-Naxal Operations Sharad Shelar confirmed the recovery of 15 more bodies from the Indravati River side near the spot where the security forces had gunned down 16 Maoists on April 22. Six more bodies were already recovered on Monday taking the total number of deaths to 37 in the last 72 hours. The IG however, said that 31 Maoiss were confirmed killed in the security operations carried out on Sunday.

In a separate incident, the security forces killed six Maoists in Jimalgatta area of Gadchiroli late on April 23.

Confirming the deaths Ankush Shinde, DIG of Gadchiroli range said that combing operations are going on in the area.

Nandu, a Dalam commander and a wanted Naxal too was killed in a fresh encounter at Rajaram Khandla area of south Gadchiroli on Monday evening, Shinde said.

Two members of Divisional Committee of Maoists were killed in the operation on Sunday. This too is first of its kind of an achievement. Of the two DCM Shrinu alias Shrikant alias Vijender Narsimharamalu (51) belonged to Chhalagiri of Chityal tehsil in Warangal district of Telangana. There are 82 cases registered against him including murder and abduction charges.

This is considered as the biggest operation against the Maoists in Gadchiroli district. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis Monday congratulated the security forces for their anti-Naxalite action resulting in elimination of 16 Maoists including two of their commanders in Bhamragad-Etapalli taluka of Gadchiroli district on Tuesday last.

Fadanvis said that the joint action implemented by the teams of C-60 and CRPF acting on the tip off was the most important one. This is the biggest ever action against the Naxalites in Maharashtra and that no security person was martyred in this action was the great achievement. He congratulated the Maharashtra Police for this brave and courageous action.