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New Indian Express
5 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
Chhattisgarh's Tiriya gram sabha recognised globally for community-led forest governance
RAIPUR: Tucked deep inside south Chhattisgarh's Bastar division, Tiriya village has been recognised among the top 15 mentions, out of the 190+ nominated communities, for the 2025 Collective Action Awards by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Tiriya's model stands as a resilient example on how tribal (Adivasi) communities can lead inclusive, sustainable development rooted in traditional knowledge and collective action in Bastar region. The RRI is a global coalition of grassroots organisations aimed at improving coordination and support for the recognition of land rights for indigenous people across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The global efforts intended to safeguard nature and preserve traditional knowledge for future generations are much appreciated. The achievement of Tiriya has been supported by the Bastar-based team of ATREE, which has facilitated key steps in the community forest rights (CFR) claim-making and community planning processes. The global recognition celebrates Tiriya's exemplary grassroots efforts in securing community forest rights, strengthening collective governance and pioneering a self-sustaining eco-tourism model.
Scroll.in
23-06-2025
- Scroll.in
Chhattisgarh: Man killed in gunfight with security forces on June 5 not a Maoist, claims family
The family members of a 38-year-old man, who was among seven persons killed in a gunfight between suspected Maoists and security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on June 5, have claimed that he was not a Maoist, The Hindu reported on Monday. The man, Mahesh Kudiyam from Irpagutta village, had been a cook at a government school for more than a year, they said. However, the police claimed that he was also a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) with a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, The Indian Express reported. Kudiyam, along with six others, was killed by security forces in the Indravati National Park area in a joint operation on June 5. Gautam alias Sudhakar, a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), was also among those killed in the gunfight. The central committee is the highest decision-making body of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Several gunfights were reported between June 5 and June 7 as part of the operation, The Hindu reported. On June 10, the police issued a statement identifying one of the men killed as Kudiyam, who was allegedly a part of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'s National Park area committee. However, Kudiyam's wife Sumitra, brothers and a few residents of the village, in an interview with Bastar-based YouTube channel Bastar Talkies released on Sunday, claimed that Kudiyam was not a Maoist. Kudiyam was just a cook and a peon in the government school in the village, a resident named Irma Vela added. His family also claimed that he had gone to graze his cattle on the day of the alleged gunfight. Sundarraj P, inspector general of police for the Bastar Range, also confirmed that Kudiyam was a cook at the government school, The Hindu reported. However, a statement released by the police officer added that he was also a Maoist. 'During inquest proceedings, it was confirmed that Mahesh Kodiyam was a party member of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation operating in the National Park Area division, and he had clear links with the proscribed group,' the newspaper quoted the statement as saying. It said that Kodiyam's appointment as a cook at the government school had been made by the village school management committee, and added that he was being paid remuneration for this role until March. 'The circumstances under which Mahesh Kodiyam came into contact with senior Maoist leaders, like Central Committee member Gautam and State Committee member Bhaskar, are currently under investigation,' the statement said. A thorough, impartial, and professional inquiry is being conducted into all aspects of the case.' It urged persons associated with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) to 'immediately sever' all such ties. 'Continued association with this extremist outfit poses a serious threat not only to public safety and regional peace but also to the lives and future of those involved,' the statement said. More than 400 suspected Maoists have been killed in the Bastar region in 2024-'25, Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai had said earlier this month. In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces across Chhattisgarh. Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians. Two killed by suspected Maoists in Bijapur On June 21, two persons alleged to be police informers were killed by suspected Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, The Indian Express reported. The incident took place in the Sendrobor and Yampur villages in the jurisdiction of the Pamed Police Station. An unidentified official told the newspaper that a group of suspected Maoists came to the villages on Saturday night and killed the two civilians after 'suspecting them to be police informers'. This came a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah was set to begin his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh to review the ongoing anti-Maoist operations in the state. On June 17, three persons in the Bijapur district were also strangled to death by suspected Maoists in the village of Peddakorma, PTI reported. Two of those killed were relatives of Dinesh Modiyam, a Maoist commander who surrendered before the security forces in March, the news agency quoted an unidentified official as saying.
Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Indian Express
Man killed in last month's encounter was a govt school cook, officials say; police maintain Maoist link
A 38-year-old tribal man, who was among the seven killed in an encounter between Maoists and security forces at Indravati National Park in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on June 5, worked as a cook in a government school in the local village for over a year, officials said. Police have said all seven of those killed were Maoists, including the cook, Mahesh Kudiyam. Kudiyam, from Irpagutta village, was a cook at a local school and also a member of the CPI (Maoist)'s National Park area committee, carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, police said. His family, however, denied the allegations and told Bastar-based YouTube channel, Bastar Talkies, that he was killed while he was out grazing cattle. Bijapur Collector Sambit Mishra said an impartial magisterial inquiry was being conducted into the incident. After the exchange of fire on June 5, the body of a member of the Maoists' Central Committee, Sudhakar alias Gautam, was recovered on the same day. Over the next two days, six more bodies were recovered, including that of the Maoists' Telangana State Committee (TSC) member, Bhaskar, as well as Kudiyam. An official from the Bijapur education department confirmed to The Indian Express that Kudiyam was a cook at a local school in the National Park area and was hired in September 2023, drawing a salary of Rs 2,000 per month. The official said that due to summer holidays, he was on leave. An official statement released by Inspector General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, also said Kudiyam was a cook at the school, but maintained that he was also a Maoist. 'During inquest proceedings, it was confirmed that Mahesh Kodiyam was a party member of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation operating in the National Park Area division, and he had clear links with the proscribed group. It has also come to light that Mahesh Kodiyam was working as a cook assistant at the primary school in Irpagutta village. His appointment had been made by the village school management committee, and he was being paid remuneration for this role until March 2025. The circumstances under which Mahesh Kodiyam came into contact with senior Maoist leaders, like Central Committee member Gautam and State Committee member Bhaskar, are currently under investigation. A thorough, impartial, and professional inquiry is being conducted into all aspects of the case.' The statement also urged individuals 'directly or indirectly associated with the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation to immediately sever all such ties'. It said, 'Continued association with this extremist outfit poses a serious threat not only to public safety and regional peace but also to the lives and future of those involved.' However, Kudiyam's wife, brothers and some local residents spoke to the Bastar Talkies YouTube channel and claimed he was not a Maoist. 'Kudiyam was just a cook and a peon in the school. On the day of the encounter, he had gone to graze his cattle,' local resident Irma Vela told the channel. Kudiyam's wife, Sumitra, appealed to the government to provide support to the family as he was the sole breadwinner. The couple had seven children. Sumitra told the channel, 'How will I raise these children by myself?' One of his four brothers, Ajay, said, 'I have studied up to class 6. I do not know what happened. I worked as a coolie in Andhra. I came (days) later and learnt he had gone to graze buffalo and was killed.'
The Hindu
22-06-2025
- The Hindu
Man killed in anti-Naxal operation is not Maoist, was a govt. school cook, says family
The family members of a 38-year-old man killed in an anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur earlier this month have claimed that he was not a Maoist. The family and other residents in Irpagutta village say Mahesh Kudiyam used to work as a cook in a government school for more than a year. The police had declared that Kudiyam was a Naxalite with ₹1 lakh bounty. Kudiyam was among the seven alleged Maoists killed by the security forces in Indravati National Park area in Bijapur in an operation in which CPI (Maoist) central committee member (CCM) Sudhakar alias Gautam and Telangana State committee (TSC) member Bhaskar were among the killed. The operation lasted for several days and multiple encounters were reported on June 5, 6 and 7. On June 10, the police issued a press release stating that one of the slain men was identified as Mahesh Kudiyam. They had described him as a party member from the National Park area committee of Maoists who had a reward of ₹1 lakh on his arrest. However, speaking with a Bastar-based YouTube channel, Bastar Talkies, Kudiyam's wife and brothers said the man was not a Maoist. Irma Vela, a local resident, told the channel that Kudiyam was just a cook and a peon in the village government school. According to one of Kudiyam's brothers, the man had gone to graze his cattle on the day of the encounter. The family also shared images of a bank passbook showing purported transactions documenting Kudiyam receiving his remuneration from the government. Kudiyam's wife Sumitra expressed concerns about raising the couple's seven children on her own, with her husband, the sole breadwinner of the family, now dead. Police's response While the police acknowledged that Kudiyam had worked as a government school cook, they maintained that he was a Maoist. An official statement released by Inspector General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, reads, 'During inquest proceedings, it was confirmed that Mahesh Kodiyam was a party member of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation operating in the National Park Area division, and he had clear links with the proscribed group. It has also come to light that Mahesh Kodiyam was working as a cook assistant at the primary school in Irpagutta village. His appointment had been made by the village school management committee, and he was being paid remuneration for this role until March 2025.' It further stated, 'The circumstances under which Mahesh Kodiyam came into contact with senior Maoist leaders such as Central Committee member Gautam and State Committee member Bhaskar are currently under investigation. A thorough, impartial, and professional inquiry is being conducted into all aspects of the case. Police once again urges all individuals directly or indirectly associated with the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation to immediately sever all such ties. Continued association with this extremist outfit poses a serious threat not only to public safety and regional peace but also to the lives and future of those involved.' On Kudiyam's recruitment as a government cook despite his alleged association with a banned outfit, Bastar Collector Sambit Mishra told The Hindu that such appointments are made on ad-hoc basis and the process is decentralized. 'It is the school management committees which hire them and no police verification is done. We have asked the block education officer for a report in this case,' he said.
Hindustan Times
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Activists alleged Maoist killings staged; Chhattisgarh police dismiss claim
Raipur: Civil rights activists and the Telangana civil rights association on Saturday alleged that Chhattisgarh police had taken Maoist leaders into custody in Bijapur and were killing them one by one in staged encounters. Police, however, dismissed the allegations, stating that all actions were lawful and carried out in strict accordance with operational protocols. This comes after the security forces killed senior leader of the banned CPI (Maoist) and a Central Committee member (CCM) Sudhakar in an encounter in the forests of Bijapur, and top Maoist leader Bhaskar in the Indravati National Park area in Bijapur on Thursday — two weeks after they gunned CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju was gunned down in Narayanpur. A statement issued by the Telangana civil rights association on Saturday said that senior Maoist leaders, including CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Sudhakar and Telangana State Committee member Mailarapu Adelu alias Bhaskar, were in police custody before being killed in staged encounters on Thursday and Friday respectively in the Indravati National Park area. Calling the allegation 'baseless', inspector general (IG) of police of Bastar Range Sunderraj P said, 'In strict adherence to the constitutional mandate and legal framework of the Republic of India, the security forces remain committed to safeguarding the lives, rights and properties of the native population in the region. All operational activities are conducted in accordance with the provisions of law, ensuring due process, restraint, and accountability at every stage.' The association also claimed that several other senior Maoist leaders — including Bandi Prakash, Indravati National Park area secretary Dilip, Maddeedu area secretary Seetu, Ramanna, Munna, Sunitha, Mahesh, and around ten others — remain in police custody and are at risk of being killed similarly. Also Read: Who was senior Maoist leader Sudhakar killed in Bijapur encounter? The civil rights body has demanded that they be immediately produced before a magistrate and has called for a ceasefire and peace talks with the Maoists. Telangana civil rights association president Lakshman Gaddam said that multiple of his sources claimed that Maoist leaders are in custody of the Chhattisgarh police. 'We demand they should be produced before the court,' Gaddam said. Also Read: Ready for peace talks if govt stops operations, says CPI (Maoist) 'On Friday night I heard that a Maoist on the run had called a human rights organisation in Telangana and informed that the police had caught 20 Maoists including himself from a village in the Indravati National Park area of Bijapur district. But he had managed to escape,' Bastar-based civil rights activist Bela Bhatia said, adding that Sudhakar and Bhaskar, who the police had claimed were killed in encounter, were part of the group. 'Bandi Prakash, Dilip, Seetu, Ramanna, Munna, Sunita, Mahesh and ten others were still in custody,' Bhatia added. Also Read:Civil liberties panel seeks probe in C'garh Maoists' encounter Responding to the allegations, the IG further said, 'Any actions undertaken by the security forces during the course of operations are fully compliant with legal norms, standing operational procedures (SOPs), and the principles enshrined in the Constitution,' and warned against the spread of 'unsubstantiated allegations, misinformation, or speculative narratives.' The operation in the National Park area is underway, and the police have recovered bodies and arms, people aware of the matter said.
