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.

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