Overview

• The family filed a contempt petition on May 28 alleging Chhattisgarh police willfully defied a May 24 Andhra Pradesh High Court order by cremating seven Maoist bodies, including Nambala Keshava Rao’s, on May 26.
• Rao, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), was killed alongside 26 cadres during a security operation in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmarh forest on May 21.
• The High Court had directed authorities to complete an autopsy and hand over Rao’s remains to his relatives for customary rites.
• Chhattisgarh police contend the bodies were unclaimed, citing an executive magistrate’s order and concerns over decomposition and public health.
• Relatives claim police demanded recent family photographs to prove kinship and barred them from conducting customary last rites, and the contempt plea is due for hearing on Thursday.