As part of the ongoing anti-Naxal operation in the National Park area of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, security forces have recovered the body of an high-ranking Maoist leader, who was killed during an encounter. His body was recovered on Friday, along with an AK-47 rifle, explosives and other arms and ammunition.

Preliminary identification indicated the recovered body to be of Bhaskar Rao alias Mailarapu Adellu a member of the Telangana State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) outfit.

Bhaskar, a resident of Adilabad district in Telangana, was the Secretary of the Mancherial-Komarambheem (MKB) division of the Telangana State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) outfit.

He was also a member of the Special Zonal Committee (SZC) of the Telangana State Committee and had a total bounty of Rs 45 lakh on him. This includes a bounty of Rs 25 lakh in Chhattisgarh and Rs 20 lakhs in Telangana.

Earlier, on Thursday, the dead body of Central Committee member Gautam alias Sudhakar was recovered by the forces during the operation. An Ak-47 rifle was also recovered from him.