Andhra HC asks kin of slain Maoists to approach Chhattisgarh authorities to seek bodies

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday disposed two separate petitions filed by the kin of slain Maoist leaders Nambala Keshava Rao j and Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, seeking a direction to Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh governments, among others to hand over bodies so that they can perform last rites.

The court, disposing the two writ petitions, said the petitioners are open to approach the concerned police authorities of Chhattisgarh to seek custody of the bodies of the deceased.

On the specific enquiry of the Court about the status of the post-mortem of the dead bodies, Advocate General of Chhattisgarh submitted that autopsy of all the bodies would be completed by Saturday.

The Chattisgarh AG also informed the court that after completion of post mortem, they would be handed over to the relatives.

In one of the biggest strikes on Naxalites, security forces gunned down Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, the general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and 26 other cadres in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s forested Abhujmad along the borders of Bijapur-Narayanpur districts on May 21.

Two jawans of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the state police were also killed in the operation.