The last rites of Sakhamuri Muralikrishna, one of the CRPF soldiers killed in the recent Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, was held on Tuesday with full police honours at his native Gudipudi in Sattenapalli Mandal of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
People gathered in large numbers to pay tributes to the slain soldier amid slogans of 'Johar Muralikrishna'.
Former Sattenapalli MLA YV Anjaneyulu participated in the procession. He also met the bereaved family and paid his condolences.
At least 22 security personnel lost their lives in the encounter which took place between security forces and Naxals along the Sukma-Bijapur border on Saturday after a party of jawans was ambushed by Naxals near Jonnaguda village. Over 30 others sustained injuries in the encounter, Chhattisgarh Police said.
Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldiep Singh on Sunday said that there was absolutely no intelligence or operational failure in the operation.
However, reacting to Singh's comment, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said this meant that the operation was poorly designed and incompetently executed.
"If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation," Gandhi tweeted tagging a news clipping of CRPF DG's "no operational and intelligence failure" remark.
"Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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