Gadchiroli encounter: Police confirm Maoist leader Teltumbde among 26 killed

Police on Sunday confirmed that among the 26 Maoists killed in Gadchiroli was their top commander Milind Teltumbde a wanted accused in BhimaKoregaon case who also had a price of R50 lakh on his head Gadchiroli police had launched a search operation in Mardintola forest on Saturday morning when Maoists opened fire at them After a 10hour encounter the surviving rebels fled into the thick forest said officers The other Maoist leaders killed in the encounter are mdash CPI Maoist divisional committee member and commander Lokesh Madkam and Mahesh Gota The Maharashtra government had set a reward amount of Rs 20 lakh and Rs 16 lakh respectively if anyone helped the police arrest or neutralise themMilind Teltumbde centre top rowThe duo has been involved in major violent activities in Gadchiroli and Chhattisgarh said officers Police said Gota along with other rebels had created terror among innocent citizens of Kasansur district of Maharashtra to join their movement and had stopped all development activities in the areaTeltumbde was instrumental in strengthening the outlawed organisation and his death along with his other commanders is a major setback to the Maoists Gadchiroli police called the encounter and the elimination of Teltumbde a historic achievement Speaking about the encounter Gadchiroli police superintendent Ankit Goyal told midday ldquoWe launched the operation based on specific information about a huge camp of Maoists including Teltumde who is also wanted in BhimaKoregaon case and brother of social activist Anand Teltumde at the Mardintola forest The information was very specific that the rebels had gathered to plan various antisecurity forces strategies in the backdrop of upcoming Maoist week and to carry out other subversive activitiesrdquoThe arms and ammunitions seized from the encounter siteThe Special Operation Squad C60 and Special Action Group SAG launched the search around 6630 am ldquoDuring the search around 90 to 100 hidden armed Maoists opened indiscriminate fire in the direction of the commandos Their intention was clear to cause major damage and maximum casualties to the force and snatch away their arms and ammunitionrdquo Goyal said As per the SOP the officers appealed to the Maoists to stop firing and surrender but they intensified the gunfire injuring four officers Gadchiroli police retaliated and the encounter lasted close to 10 hours ldquoSensing mounting police pressure the Maoists fled to the thick forestrdquo Goyal saidThereafter commandos searched the area and recovered 26 bodies including six of women and found huge cache of arms and ammunition mdash five AK47 one AKMUBGL nine SLRs 303 rifles nine 22 single bore one INSAS rifle one pistol and explosives in huge quantity Later some of the Maoists who surrendered identified the bodies of 16 deceased and 10 are yet to be identifiedWho is Milind TeltumbdeHis many aliases Jiva aka Deepak aka Praveen aka Arun aka Sudhir aka SahyadriFather Baburao TeltumbdeAddress RO Rajur Wani tehsil Yavatmal districtDate of birth 05021964Qualifications 10th and ITI courseIn 198485 he joined Dhoptala Sasti open cast coal mines and two years later he met Advocate Sujan Abraham state secretary of Akhil Maharashtra Kamgar Union and was influenced by the Maoist ideology In 20042005 he became a member of Maharashtra Rajya State Committee MRSC and was later promoted as its secretary In 201617 MRSC was dissolved and the MaharashtraMadhya PradeshChhattisgarh MMC zone was formed and he was appointed its leader In 2021 he became its incharge He monitored and analysed movements of security forces in Gadchiroli Gondia Balaghat and Rajnandgaon and masterminded and implemented major ambushes The MMC zone was formed for strengthening and revival of the CPIMaoists and he played a vital role in thisResponding to this Susan Abraham has issued a statement to midday as a detailed report appeared in midday on Monday Gadchiroli police is deliberately falsifying facts I was never general secretary of AMKU but one of the officebearers of a registered AllMaharastra trade union From 1986 in Chandrapur AMKU organised the unorganised sector workers in glass cement and thermal power stations winning the struggles for statutory rights like minimum wages health and accident benefits for nearly 10000 workers I may have inspired Millind Teltumde to take up trade union work he became a dynamic TU leader in the coal mines with AITUC affiliated to CPI till the time I was in Chandrapur Teltumde was not a member of AMKU nor did AMKU organise coal mine workers I left Chandrapur in 1993 and after 1 year of work with unorganised sector workers in Surat I returned to Mumbai in 1994 Till 1993 Millind Teltumde was a successful and popular trade unionist in the coal mine gaining allIndia importance in AITUC said Susan in her statementRegistered offences 63 mdash 42 incidents of encounters 7 of civil murder 4 of police murder 2 of arsons and 1 of dacoityPast incidentsJambhulkheda blast May 1 2019 15 cops killedKoparshi encounter May 17 2020 2 cops killed