RAIPUR: CPI (Maoist) blamed the death of its chief Basavaraju on betrayal by some within its 'core' Naxal formations active in the Maad area, including the PLGA Company No. 7 that was tasked with his proximate security cover.
The statement holding "compromised elements within" accountable for the killing of Basavaraju in Narayanpur, issued via its Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), came even as the Chhattisgarh Police conducted the last rites of the CPI(Maoist) general secretary and seven others on Monday in Narayanpur, citing the "lack of any clear legal claimant" to their bodies.
CPI(Maoist) also admitted that 28, and not 27, “comrades” were killed in the operation, and pointed out mistakes in identification of two slain Maoists by police.
TOI had exclusively reported Monday that the Chhattisgarh Police was not keen to hand over Basavaraju’s body to his kin/acquaintances for last rites in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, fearing that a public funeral would unnecessarily glorify the mastermind behind the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians and security personnel.
The bodies of the remaining 19 Maoists killed in the May 21 operation by the District Reserve Guard wing of the Chhattisgarh Police were, however, handed over to their family members.
The DKSZC statement, dated May 25, 2025, and signed by ‘Vikalp’, blamed the “compromised” and “surrendered” leaders and cadre of units active in Maad for feeding the Chhattisgarh Police and intelligence agencies with constant updates on Basavaraju’s movements over the past six months.
“The cadre from different units in the Maad area turned traitors and would share our secret messages with police. Operations based on their leaks were conducted in Jan and March to get to Basavaraju. Six more surrenders over the past one and half months, including by a top cadre in Basavaraju’s security detail, made the job of police easier,” it said.
The CPI(Maoist) press note, while corroborating how DRG personnel cornered Basavaraju by breaching and neutralising his protection team, declared that the Maoist general secretary was captured alive and then killed, a claim rubbished by Bastar IG P Sundarraj. “The lie is a face-saver.
The statement literally certifies our precise and perfectly-timed strike, how 28 of the 35 Maoists engaged ended up neutralised, and how it were the Maoists who killed a DRG personnel in the ‘first round of fire’ and another in an IED blast after the operation had ended,” he told TOI.
The Maoist statement conceded failure, saying, “The PLGA Company No. 7 had 60 persons in Jan but this was cut to 35 for easier mobility. In the meantime, senior members of the company surrendered...we expected big operations in April and May. But Basavaraju was not ready to move to a safer hideout”. Basavaraju, 74, was even quoted as telling cadre not to worry for him as he would remain general secretary for two to three years at the most.
Paying “tributes” to ‘B R dada’ — or Basavaraju, who faced 258 criminal cases — and the 27 other Maoists killed, the DKSZC note exhorted citizens, party members, PLGA formations and activists’ groups to organise public meetings to honour the “martyrs” and continue fighting the “fascist, Hindu govt”.
Of the 27 Maoists whose bodies were retrieved by the Chhattisgarh Police, two were from Andhra Pradesh, three from Telangana and the remaining from Chhattisgarh. They included a politburo member, a DKSZC leader, four Company Party Committee members, three platoon party committee members and 18 PLGA members.
The Chhattisgarh Police on Monday said the weapons recovered in the Narayanpur operation included those looted by Naxals after the Maoist attacks at Gawadi in 2010 Burkapal in 2017, which between them had killed 51 CRPF personnel.
Start a Conversation
Post comment