Chhattisgarh police cremate slain Maoist leader Keshav Rao and others without informing families

Left wing parties have alleged that the rulers were scared of seeing the bodies of slain Maoists, which was why bodies of eight Maoists including of Keshav Rao, were not handed over to their family members

Khammam: Left wing parties and civil rights groups have alleged that the rulers were scared of seeing the bodies of slain Maoists, which was why bodies of eight Maoists including of Keshav Rao, killed in an encounter on May 21, were not handed over to their family members.

Peace talks coordination committee member Dr. MF Gopinath, CPI leader Bagam Hemanth Rao, CPM leader Nunna Nageswara Rao, Praja Pantha leader Gokinepalli Venkateswara Rao, ND leaders Lakshmi Narayana, CCA in-charge Kaki Bhaskar, IV Ramana Rao, Ravi Maruth and others spoke to the media on the issue here on Tuesday.

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If the soldiers of enemy countries die in a war, their bodies were handed over to their own country, but the Chhattisgarh government behaved cruelly by not handing over the bodies of Maoists and not even honoured its submission made before the AP High Court. The Supreme Court should take suo motu cognisance of the issue and register a case against those responsible.

It was inhuman for the security forces to get drunk and dance in front of the bodies of those who fought for the people for decades. Cases should be registered against the Union Home Minister, Chhattisgarh Home Minister and Narayanpur SP and an investigation be conducted, they said.

Despite repeated appeals by family members, Narayanpur police in Chhattisgarh reportedly cremated the bodies of Keshav Rao and other Maoists at an undisclosed location on Monday, they alleged.

The family members were told to leave the district headquarters as the cremation was over. The video clippings of cremation were later released on social media attracting severe criticism against the action of Chhattisgarh police.

It happened even as Chhattisgarh Advocate General submitted before AP High Court on last Saturday after postmortem was over the bodies would be handed over to the families, when the court heard a petition by Keshav Rao’s family members seeking custody of the bodies, they said.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) on behalf of Keshav Rao’s mother Bharatamma and elder brother Delhishwar Rao filed a contempt of court case in AP High Court on Tuesday against Chhattisgarh officials. CLC leaders Chilaka Chandrasekhar, T Anjaneyulu and Jabali filed the case (case number 1410/2025).

Delhishwar Rao told the media that police did not give any information about Keshav Rao’s funeral and prevented him from even having a last look at his brother. He said that the family would try to get even the ashes of Keshav Rao and perform his funeral rituals.