Gadchiroli: SP Abhinav Deshmukh and other top officials address the press conference regarding an encounter earlier with 16 Naxels at Kasansur of Tadgaon Jungle near Bhamragad in Gadchiroli district on Sunday. PTI Photo (PTI4_22_2018_000178B) Thane: In the biggest crackdown in four decades in Maharashtra, security forces on Sunday gunned down at least 16 Maoists in Gadchiroli district, it is claimed. This is the onset of the Tendu leaves season during which many Naxalites come over ground to extort money from contractors. The money extorted thus funds the operations of the Naxalites.
Based on a specific tip-off about movement of some divisional commanders active in the area, the anti-Naxalite forces of Maharashtra police were conducting search in the Tadagav area when they were targeted with heavy firing. The killings took place in the ensuing shootout. Sixteen bodies of Naxalites, including those of some women, have been recovered thus far from the site of the encounter bordering Bhamragad tehsil in Gadchiroli district.
Two divisional commanders of the Maoists — Sainath and Shrinu, alias Shrikant – are among those killed. 82 cases were registered against Shrinu, an original resident of Warangal in Telangana, including murder and abduction. He was active in the Gadchiroli district since 2003. Sainath, alias Dolesh Madi Atram (36), was a resident of Gadchiroli; his wife Kaika, alias Sarita Kolu Kowachi (27), was killed by the police during an encounter at Tadgaon on April 19, 2016. There were 75 charges against him including murder, abduction, carrying out blasts etc. Sunday’s is the single biggest police action against Maoists in the past 38 years since the birth of the movement in the district. This is the biggest success in the area, confirmed Vinod Deshmukh, Superintendent of Police of Gadchiroli.