My husband was declared Maoist and shot dead in June 10 gunfight

Bastar Police said Kodiyam was a member of CPI(Maoist) and associated with the outfit's ops in the Indravati Park Division

- Vikas Tiwari and Ritesh Mishra

BIJAPUR: The family of a 35-year-old man killed in a gunfight with security forces in Bijapur has alleged that he was a mid-day meal cook at a local government school and was killed in a "staged encounter", with the police maintaining that the deceased was a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The deceased, identified as Mahesh Kodiyam, was a resident of Irpagutta village in the district and was killed in the June 10 operation in Indravati National Park in which senior Maoist leaders—Gautam alias Sudhakar, a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist), and Bhaskar Rao, a state committee member of the same group—were killed.