Chhattisgarh: SC orders preservation of Maoist leader's body after fake encounter plea

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Chhattisgarh government to preserve the body of senior Maoist commander Katha Ramchandra Reddy, who was killed in an alleged fake police encounter in Narayanpur district.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A.G. Masih ordered that the body must not be cremated or buried until the high court hears a petition challenging the encounter and calling for an independent probe. "Till such time the high court decides the petition, the body shall not be cremated/buried," the bench stated, asking the high court to take up the matter once it reopens after the Dussehra break.

The petition was filed by Raja Chandra, who alleged that his father was tortured and killed in a staged encounter and that the police were attempting to dispose of the body. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, argued that an independent investigation was required.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the state police, countered that two Maoists were killed in a genuine encounter and that the petitioner’s father was among them. He noted that the deceased leader carried a bounty of Rs 7 crore announced by seven states.

Mehta told the bench that while one body had already been handed over to the family and cremated, the petitioner’s father’s body remained in hospital. He added that the post-mortem had been video-recorded, leaving “no malafide” attributable to the police.

The petition has sought an inquiry by an independent agency, preferably the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and a fresh post-mortem. Filed through advocate Satya Mitra, it described the encounter as fake and requested that the body be preserved in a government morgue until further examination.

According to police accounts, Katha Ramachandra Reddy (63) and Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy (67) were killed on 22 September in Narayanpur district. Both were Central Committee members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and carried a bounty of Rs 40 lakh each in Chhattisgarh.

Security forces said the encounter began that morning in the Abhujmaad forests bordering Maharashtra, during a search operation based on intelligence inputs about senior Maoist leader movements. The gun battle continued for several hours, after which the two bodies were recovered. From the site, forces seized an AK-47 rifle, an INSAS rifle, a barrel grenade launcher, explosives, Maoist documents, and other supplies.

Police said the two slain leaders, natives of Karimnagar in Telangana, had been key figures in the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the CPI (Maoist), active in Bastar for more than three decades. They were alleged to be behind several violent attacks in the region that resulted in the deaths of both security personnel and civilians.

With this latest incident, the number of Naxalites killed in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh this year has reached 249. Of these, 220 deaths occurred in the Bastar division, 27 in Gariaband district of the Raipur division, and two in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district of the Durg division.

Among the most significant losses to the Maoist organisation this year was the death of its general-secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju (70), along with five other Central Committee members.

With PTI inputs