Mumbai: Top Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde was among the 26 Naxals killed in an encounter with police in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, a senior police official said on Sunday.
The gunbattle took place on Saturday at Korchi in Mardintola forest area of the district, located over 900 km from Mumbai, when a C-60 police commando team was conducting a search operation, police earlier said.
The C-60 commandos, an elite wing of the police, had recovered bodies of 26 Naxals during a search after the encounter and Teltumbde, one of the wanted accused in the Koregaon Bhima-Maoist links case, was suspected to be among the dead.
“Teltumbde was among the 26 dead Naxals,” a senior state police official confirmed on Sunday.
Four police personnel were also seriously injured in the action on Saturday and were taken to Nagpur by a helicopter for treatment.
Gadchiroli district lies on the border of Chhattisgarh.