C’garh: Naxal commander carrying Rs 8 lakh bounty among 3 rebels killed in Bijapur encounter: Bastar IG

Raipur: A platoon commander of people’s liberation guerrilla army (PLGA) of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), carrying a bounty of Rs eight lakh, was among three Naxals slain in the November eight encounter in Bijapur district in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said on Saturday.

One of the three Maoists slain in Friday’s Bijapur encounter has been identified as Joga Madvi, commander of platoon number ten of PLGA, Bastar inspector general of police P Sunderraj said.

Joga was in the rank of divisional committee (DVC) member of the outlawed outfit and carried a bounty of Rs eight lakh on his head, he said.

The other two Maoists killed in the encounter were yet to be identified, he added.

The encounter had taken place in the Rekapalli- Kamatpalli forest, considered the core area of Maoists in Bastar.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs on the presence of around 30-40 armed Maoists including platoon number nine commander Bijja and Usoor Local Operation Squad (LOS) commander Deva, a joint search operation involving district reserve guard (DRG), special task force (STF) and CRPF’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was launched in Usoor- Pamed- Basaguda area in the district on November eight, according to Bijapur district superintendent of police Dr Jitendra Yadav.

The encounter had taken place in the Rekapalli- Kammapalli jungle at around 11 am on Friday, leading to the killing of three Maoists.

One sniper SLR rifle, one sniper weapon, one 12 bore rifle, one pistol, two country-made rifles, and explosives were recovered at the encounter site.

According to Mr Sunderraj, 192 Maoists including 67 women were killed and 782 Naxals arrested in Bastar in the current year so far.

As many as 783 ultras have surrendered during the period.

Security forces have recovered total 246 weapons including three light machine guns (LMGs), nine AK47s, ten SLRs, eight Insas rifles, 13 numbers of 303 rifles, ten pistols, and 22 Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL) rifles were recovered in different encounters with Maoists in Bastar during the period.