29 Maoists shot dead at Kanker in Chhattisgarh
Three senior cadres of CPI (Maoist) are believed to be among the dead; three jawans injured; the operation by BSF, district forces was based on a tip-o that senior Maoists were at the spot
At least 29 Maoists were killed in an operation by security forces at Kanker district in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Tuesday. Three senior cadres of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) are suspected to be among the deceased.
Three jawans were also injured, but are out of danger, the police said.
Based on the number of casualties in icted, the State police said this is possibly the “biggest encounter ever” in Chhattisgarh.
Nationally, a 2018 operation in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, in which 37 Naxalites were killed, was the only one where more deaths were reported in recent years.
The operation by a joint team of the Kanker District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Border Security Force (BSF) against the Maoists took place in a forested area which falls under the Chhottebetiya police station area of Kanker, the police said.
The security forces were sent to the spot after a tipo was received about the presence of senior Divisional Committee (DVC)
Security personnel at a post in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker after the attack.
members of the CPI (Maoist).
“During the search operation, there was an encounter between the forces and the Maoist cadres. During the searches so far, 29 bodies of Maoist cadres have been recovered. [A stash of] AK-47, INSAS, SLR, Carbine 303 and a huge cache of other arms and ammunitions were also recovered from the spot,” Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) P. Sundarraj said later, adding that searches were continuing.
According to the BSF, Shankar and Lalita — both DVC members of the North Bastar division of the CPI (Maoist) — are believed to be amongst the Maoists
killed in the exchange of re. Together, they carry a reward of around 50 lakh on their heads.
A BSF statement issued earlier said that the antiNaxal operation was launched late in the evening of April 15 by the DRG and BSF, based on various inputs of Maoists’ movement in Binagunda and adjoining areas.
“We shared ve inputs, including two inputs giving exact location (one input with GR also) of the North Bastar DVC Maoists in the Binagunda area, underlining the fact that it has acted as a permanent camp of the Maoists since April,” the statement added.
Mr. Sundarraj said that the operation had been launched after receiving information about the presence of North Bastar and Abujhmad Committee division committee members such as Shankar, Lalita, Raju and others, but noted that the police would be able to con rm names and pro les only after the identi - cation of the bodies. In an 8:30 p.m. statement, he said it would take another two to three hours to move all bodies to the nearest base camp.
Anti-Naxal campaign
Ever since the State’s new BJP government was sworn in, the anti-Naxal campaign in Chhattisgarh has intensi ed. Since the beginning of this year, 79 Maoists have been killed by the security forces.
This is the highest tally since 2019, when 80 Maoists were killed in the whole year, according to data shared by the police.