In the investigation being carried out by the Mumbai Police regarding the Gadchiroli IED blast which claimed the lives of 15 police personnel, the police have named all the Central Committee members of the CPI(Maoist) in the FIR registered in the case. The FIR mentions the Maoist leaders including former CPI(Maoist) general secretary Ganpati Gopalrao, current chief Nambala Keshaorao, Mallojula Venugopal, Katakam Sudarshan aka Anand, Satyanarayan Krishna Reddy, Lokoti Chander Rao, Milind Teltumde and Bhaskar Rao Hichkani.

The police have also named Puluri Prasad Rao alias Chandranna, Lokati Chandran Rao, Gokul Madavi, Navluram Tulavi, Dinkar Gotta, Vilas Kolla, Jagdish Tekam, Madhu Mansing Tekam, Umesh Waddo, Maini Bogga, Vinod Bogga, Kedar Pijjo, all operating at different levels of the Naxal hierarchy. Among them, Puluri, Madhu and Maini are women cadres, a police official said.

The police are investigating the lapses that led to the ghastly attack. According to reports, the Maoists who blew up the vehicle of the police personnel watched the explosion from a distance. According to police, Milind Teltumbde had carried out a Janata Durbar in the last week of April in a village called Dadarpur, where the Maoists allegedly set several vehicles on fire on the same day as the day when security personnel were attacked.

Milind Teltumbde is the younger brother of alleged urban Naxal Anand Teltumbde, who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. He was arrested by the police from Mumbai airport to interrogate him after his plea seeking anticipatory bail was rejected. Milind Teltumbde who handles the operations of the CPI(M) is also an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.

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The families of the policemen who lost their lives are alleging that the police did not follow the standard operating procedure while sending the men as reinforcements from Kurkheda to Purada police stations. “A few days ago there were posters in Jambulkheda that there would be an attack on May 1. This information was available with officers and they should have acted accordingly. When so many cars were burned, the officer at Kurkheda should have taken it into consideration while moving the men. He should have consulted senior officers on how to strategize the police movement”, said Vijay Mishra brother-in-law of Pramod Mahadevrao Bhoir, a policeman who died in the attack.