MUMBAI: Gadchiroli police on Tuesday found 15 more dead bodies of Maoists killed in encounter on Sunday taking the toll to 31 and in another encounter on Monday police killed 6 Naxal activists taking the total number of Maoists killed within past 48 hours to 37. This is being termed as the biggest success that the anti-naxal operations have got till date.
Among the 37 dead there are 19 women and 18 men. Police have been able to identify 16 of them as yet. The process for identifying others is still on, senior police officials have said.
"Both the actions had been initiated after receiving specific intelligence. This is the biggest success ever that the forces have received," said Ankush Shinde, deputy inspector general of Gadchiroli range.
In an operation by C60 in Kasanasur jungle area, 16 Maoist dead bodies (9 male, 7 female) were recovered on 22nd April. Out of 16, 12 bodies are identified including Srinu (DVCM), Sainath (DVC) and 2 Dalam commanders.
While in the fresh encounter at Kapewancha area of Rajaram Khandla in south Gadchiroli on Monday evening, six Maoists including Nandu, also a DVC member, were killed.
The search operations that had to be stopped on Sunday due to heavy rains were resumed today when 15 dead bodies of Maoists (7 male, 8 female) were recovered from waters of Indravati river. Several firearms including automatic guns and ammunition too were recovered after both the encounters, the police have said.
In all four members of Divisional Committee of Maoists were killed in the operations. This too is first of its kind of an achievement, the police have said.