A senior police official said the CPI (Maoist), in the statement, has admitted to the loss of 28 cadres, including Basavaraju, “Through the statement, the illegal and banned Maoist outfit was also trying to instigate their supporters to organise rallies and meetings throughout the country to glorify the death of their cruel and dreadful leadership, which was responsible for the death of thousands and thousands of innocent citizens, tribals, women, children and security personnel.”Police and intelligence agencies have been keeping a strict vigil on activities of underground Maoist cadres as well as their overground workers and supporters,” Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj P noted.Three AK-47 rifles, four Self Loading Rifle (SLR), six Insas rifles, one carbine, six .303 rifles, one Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), two rocket launchers, two 12 bore guns, one country made pistol, two muzzle loading guns and a huge cache of explosives were recovered from the encounter site in forests of Kudmel-Kalhaja-Jatlur villages, he said.”The recovered arms included an AK-47 weapon looted by Basavaraju and his associates from security forces in April 2010 Tadmetla ambush in then Dantewada district (where 76 security personnel were killed) and those looted by Naxals after 2010 Gawadi (Narayanpur district) and 2017 Burkapal (Sukma district) attacks,” the IPS officer said.Efforts were on to establish the origin of other weapons, he added.Basavaraju was one of the most wanted criminals in the country and so far records of more than 258 criminal cases, in which he had direct or indirect involvement, are being screened by the investigation team, Sundarraj said.Further lawful action and investigation procedure is being carried out by Narayanapur Police in the case, the IG said.
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