A DAY after Chhattisgarh Police said that ten alleged Maoists were killed at Abhujhmaad, Bijapur district, the bodies of the deceased were brought back to the district headquarters. Senior police officials said that they were in the process of identifying the deceased of which five were males and five females.
On Friday afternoon, villagers from Abhujhmaad arrived in Bhairamgarh town asking for the bodies to be returned to them, and were angered by the delay. Senior police officials told the villagers that the bodies would be returned after a post mortem. Sources said that four of the ten deceased Maoists have been identified as Vijja Madvi, Sudvi Oyam, Parmeshwar Barsi, and Shanti Oyam.
Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told the Indian Express that materials such as pipe bombs, packets of powder used to manufacture explosives, makeshifts arrows with explosives at their tip were recovered among other items of daily use from the site. “Villagers are coming from across the Indravati and we are hopeful to be able to identify everyone by the morning,” he said.
The encounter spot, deep inside the jungles of Abhujhmaad, was a difficult terrain to negotiate, said Garg. This is why it took over twelve hours for teams to return to the camps after the encounter, he added. “We have entered this area after two years. The difficulty with Abhujhmaad is firstly crossing the river, because that leaves you open to an ambush. Secondly, the area across the river is completely operated by Maoists. The terrain is undulating and unlike other places we never return the same way, but here we often have to use the same road back. This leaves us vulnerable for another attack post operation. In terrains like this, we only go in when there is confirmed intelligence, and on this occasion we had information that a training camp, led by senior Maoists was being carried out,” said Garg.
