Overview

• Chhattisgarh police performed cremations for eight cadres from the May 21 Abujhmad encounter, including CPI(Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, after no legal claimants came forward under an executive magistrate’s order.
• Human rights activists and relatives faulted authorities for denying petitions and court observations to hand over bodies, contending the move breached families’ constitutional right to perform last rites.
• Separate encounters in Jharkhand’s Latehar and Palamu districts on May 26–27 resulted in the deaths of commanders Manish Yadav and Tulsi Bhuniyan, with several weapons recovered by joint security units.
• Official statements and a Maoist release attributed the successful strikes on senior leaders to intelligence provided by surrendered cadres within their core formations.
• On May 27, eighteen Maoist insurgents—including ten with combined bounties of ₹38 lakh—surrendered in Sukma, citing disillusionment with Maoist ideology and attraction to the government’s Niyad Nellanar development initiative.