New Delhi, May 22 -- The Communist Party of India (CPI) has 'strongly' condemned the 'cold-blooded' killing of a senior Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, along with 26 others who in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on 21 May . The party called it "yet another instance of extrajudicial action" carried out under the guise of counterinsurgency operations and demaned a judicial probe into the incident.

"These killings not only point to a dangerous pattern of state violence but also expose the ongoing marginalisation of Adivasi communities in the region. Time and again, these communities are caught in the crossfire of a conflict they did not initiate, and are treated as collateral in operations marked by impunity...