India, May 21 -- General secretary of CPI (Maoist ) Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, was likely killed in Wednesday's encounter in Abujhmad forest, police officers said.

Basavaraju, police said, could be among the 26 Maoists killed in a gun battle with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Wednesday.

Sharma said that more than 26 Maoists have been killed, and a search operation is going on, state home minister Vijay Sharma said.

"The operation has been going on for the last 72 hours. More than 26 Maoists were killed in the encounter on Wednesday," said Sharma.

Basavaraju,71, was appointed the new general secretary of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2018

A veteran of the Maoist movement since the 1970...