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Naxalite encounter: Three Naxalites carrying a reward of Rs 15 lakh were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday.
Naxalite encounter: Three Naxalites carrying a reward of Rs 15 lakh were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday. Police said that the encounter started in the morning in the hills of Tumalpad village bordering Bhejji and Chintagufa police station areas when a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Naxal operation. Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan told PTI that they had received information about the presence of Maoist workers in the area. He told that intermittent firing continued for a long time, after which bodies of three Naxalites including two women were recovered from the spot. The officer said that a .303 rifle, barrel grenade launcher (BGL), other weapons and explosives were also seized from the encounter site.
Search operation continues in surrounding areas
Chavan said the slain militants have been identified as area committee member Madvi Deva, CNM (Chetna Natya Mandali – a cultural organization of the Maoists) commander Podiyam Gangi and Kistaram area committee member Sodhi Gangi (both women). He told that there was a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on all of them. The officer said Deva was a sniper expert and a dreaded member of the Maoists’ Konta Area Committee, who was involved in the killing of several innocent civilians. He said that the search operation is still going on in the surrounding areas. Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj Pattilingam said that Naxalism is now in its last stages in Bastar region and Maoist activists have no option but to give up violence and adopt the rehabilitation policy of the government.
Resolve to end Naxalism by March 2026
He said that a total of 233 Maoists, including Central Committee members, Dandakaranya Special Regional Committee members and People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) workers, have been killed so far this year in Bastar range comprising seven districts including Sukma. With this latest action, 262 Naxalites have been killed in encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year. Of these, 233 were killed in Bastar division, while 27 others were killed in Gariaband district, which falls in Raipur division. Two Naxalites were killed in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district of Durg division. Last month, around 300 Naxalites surrendered in Chhattisgarh, while senior Naxal Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi and 60 other cadres laid down their arms in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. The Center has resolved to eliminate Naxalism from the country by March 2026.
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