Senior leader, seven women among Naxals killed in Chhattisgarh

A senior Maoist leader carrying a reward of ~5 lakh on his head was among the 10 Naxals killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, a top Telangana police official said on Saturday.

The Greyhounds, an antiNaxal force, had Friday swooped on the camp of Maoists near Pujari Kanker in Bijapur district, as part of a joint operation with the Chhattisgarh police. Ten Maoists, including seven women, were killed in the early morning operation in which a personnel of the elite force also lost his life.

Dadaboina Swamy alias Prabhakar, a divisional committee rank member of the banned CPI (Maoist), figures among the rebels killed, he said. “Prabhakar was a native of Warangal district (in Telangana) and carried a reward of ~5 lakh on his head.”

Earlier, superintendent of police of Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district Ambar Kishor Jha said bodies of two Naxals and the junior commando of Greyhounds were airlifted on Friday. Due to the inaccessibility of the location, the rest of the bodies were flown in a chopper Saturday morning to the hospital.

“Susheel Kumar, a junior commando of the Greyhounds, lost his life,” officials had said.

The Chhattisgarh police had Friday identified two of the dead Naxals as Sanjeev, a “deputy commander”, and a woman named Pedda Budri. However, a senior police officer on Saturday clarified that Sanjeev was not among the dead Naxals.

The other Naxals killed were identified as Ithu, Budri, Rame, Mallesh, Kamala, Kosi, Sukki, Ratna and Sombi, the official said, adding most of them were members of dalam (an armed unit).

Most of the Naxals killed on Friday hailed from Chhattisgarh, the official added.

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