The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday disposed of two writ petitions filed by the families of slain Maoist leaders Nambala Keshava Rao and Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, who were among the 27 Naxalites killed in a major anti-insurgency operation in Chhattisgarh earlier this week.
A bench of the High Court observed that the petitioners are at liberty to approach the concerned police authorities in Chhattisgarh to seek custody of the bodies for performing the last rites.
During the proceedings, the Court specifically inquired about the status of the post-mortem of the deceased. In response, the Advocate General of Chhattisgarh submitted that autopsies of all the bodies would be completed by Saturday. He further assured the court that the bodies would be handed over to the relatives thereafter.
The petitions were filed in the wake of one of the largest offensives against Maoist insurgents in recent years. On May 21, security forces neutralized 27 cadres of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, the outfit’s general secretary. The operation took place in the dense forest region of Abhujmad, located along the Bijapur-Narayanpur border.
The high-profile operation also resulted in the loss of two personnel from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police.
With the High Court’s direction, the families of the deceased Maoist leaders are now expected to approach the Chhattisgarh authorities directly for custody of the bodies to conduct the final rites.
