Devendra Fadnavis gets threat letters from Naxals

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reportedly received two threat letters from banned Maoist organisations in the wake of the twin encounters in the Gadchiroli district on April 22 and 23, when at least 40 Maoists were killed.

Fadnavis also holds the home portfolio of the state.

"The letters were received by the Chief Minister's Office a week ago... these have been given to the appropriate department for detailed investigations," a Maharashtra Police official told DH on Friday.

In both letters, there were references to the Gadchiroli encounters and threatened Fadnavis's family members as well.

Following the development, the security of the chief minister and the family members has been enhanced.

On April 22 and 23, the Gadchiroli Police, the C-60 commando unit of the Anti-Naxalite Operations of Maharashtra Police and the 9th Batallion of the CRPF killed 40 Naxalites in twin encounters in Gadchiroli.

This was the biggest anti-Maoist operation — in terms of casualties inflicted — and comes around a year after the Naxalbari movement completed 50 years.

The encounters in Kasansur forests in Tadgaon of Bhamragad tehsil (bordering the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh) and in the Rajaram Khandla post in Jimalgatta forests in Aheri tehsil have virtually crippled the Maoist movement in this part of the country.

After this, there were encounters in Chhattisgarh and Telangana also.