Two CRPF soldiers, one Maoist killed in Chhattisgarh gunfight

THE INJURED DEPUTY COMMANDANT RANK OFFICER SUSTAINED BULLET INJURIES AND HIS CONDITION IS

SAID TO BE SERIOUS

BASTAR:TWO jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) COBRA wing and a Maoist were killed while four other CRPF men were injured in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Monday, a senior CRPF official said.

“The encounter took place at around 10.30 am at a forest in Irapalli village on the border of Bijapur and Sukma districts in Bastar division when the security forces were out on a counter-insurgency operation, “deputy inspector general (DIG), CRPF, Komal Sinha said. The DIG said the two constables killed in the encounter were Vikas Kumar, who hails from Banda district of Uttar Pradesh and Punanand Sahu, a resident of Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh.

“Four others including deputy commandant Prashant Kumar, constable Ajit Singh , constable P Pawan Kumar and constable Gareeban Purav were injured in the encounter,” the DIG said.

The injured deputy commandant rank officer sustained bullet injuries and his condition is said to be serious, police added.

The personnel of the 204 battalion of COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) —an elite unit of CRPF— were deployed in Tipapuram camp of Bijapur district for anti-maoist combing operations.

“The dead Maoist is yet to be identified,” said a district police official .

A senior official of Chhattisgarh police said the bodies of deceased were evacuated from the spot and the injured were airlifted to Raipur for treatment.

“There were at least 700 CRPF personnel who went inside the Irapalli jungle. The operation was launched on Saturday evening after they had some specific input of Maoist camp inside the jungle,” said a second senior police officer of Chhattisgarh police on condition of anonymity.

Separately, seven Maoists surrendered in Bijapur district on Monday. Of the seven, Amit Lekam, Madkam Shankar and Oyam Motu were Mirtur local organisation squad deputy commander, Pamed local guerrilla squad deputy commander and local organisation squad deputy commander, respectively.