Among the 26 Naxalites/Maoists killed in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, one of the biggest, longest and massive encounters in India’s history, was top Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde, wanted in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case. Milind Teltumbde, who is the brother of activist and scholar Anand Teltumbde, was a banned CPI (Maoist) central committee member and used to head the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh zone of CPI (Maoist). He was active in four states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana and had a bounty of Rs 50 lakh on his head. Another Maoist, Korchi Dalam Commander Kishan/Jaiman, with a Rs 8 lakh reward on his head was also killed.
A total of 26 bodies were recovered, 20 of whom were men and 6 women.
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, while sharing the details of the operation lauded the action taken against the Maoists in the Gyarapatti forest in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district and said, “We are proud of our Police. Today`s action is remarkable achievement not only in the history of state but also in the history of country.” The Home Minister’s Office (HMO) tweeted this from its official account. He also said that a “large quantity of arms were seized, Three police personnel were injured and are undergoing treatment and are stable at hospital.”
Speaking further about the operation, he said working on the basis of information received by the C-60 force meant for combating Naxalism in the state, action was taken by Additional Superintendent of Police Somay Munde and his team under the guidance of the Superintendent of Police Ankit Goyal.
Sixteen teams of the anti-Maoist elite C-60 commandos—with over 500 personnel—carried out the huge security operation that started at 6 am on Saturday and went on till 4 pm. The encounter took place in the deep forests near Dhanora in Gadchiroli district, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Ankit Goyal said. “Around 26 Naxals have been eliminated in the encounter at multiple locations by several security forces in the region. Three security personnel have also been injured in the cross-firing. They have been airlifted by helicopter to Nagpur and admitted for treatment at a local hospital,” Goyal told the media.
While talking about the encounter, he added around 100 “Naxals opened fire at our search parties in Gyarapatti area of Gadchiroli yesterday morning and our parties also retaliated. The exchange of fire started at around 6 am and continued intermittently for nine hours. Naxals were firing from AK-47, SLR, UBGL.”
Police also said that a total 29 weapons including five AK-47s, one AK with UBGL or under barrel grenade launcher, nine SLRs (self-loading rifles), one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifle, three .303 rifles among other small arms were recovered from the encounter site.
Milind Teltumbde, known as “Jeeva” and “Deepak” belonged to Rajur village in Yavatmal district’s Wani taluk and was instrumental in the growth of the outlawed movement in Gadchiroli, Gondia and Rajnandgaon
districts in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Several other Maoists who carried rewards on their heads were also gunned down.
Apart from him, two other top Maoists the police claimed to have gunned down were Mahesh alias Shivaji Raoji Gota, a resident of Renadigutta village of Etapalli tahsil of the district, who carried a bounty of ₹16 lakh on his head, was commander of the Kasansur “dalam” (squad) and Lokesh alias Mangu Podyam, a resident of Jagargunda village in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, was commander of company 4, carried a reward of Rs 20 lakh. Both were members of the Gadchiroli divisional committee of CPI (Maoist). Also were killed Milind Teltumbde’s bodyguards, identified as Tilak Jade—an area committee member (ACM) also known by his aliases “Bhagatshingh” and “Pradeep”—and Manso Boga (known by her alias ‘Vimla’).
Security forces have been trying to track Milind Teltumbde since long. As per the NIA charge sheet in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, he along with others was slapped with almost two dozen charges under the UAPA. Teltumbde was the main financier of the Bhima-Koregaon programme organised in Pune three years ago. His communications with the organisers under the nickname of Deepak are part of the police record in the case as per officials. His elder brother Anand Teltumbde, a noted academic and writer, is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Taloja jail and is awaiting trial. Milind’s wife Angela Teltumbde was arrested in Thane in 2011 but was later released on bail.