Security forces recover bodies of 3 more Maoists in forests of Chhattisgarh, death toll rises to 31

“With this, the toll of Naxalites in the encounter rose to 31. The identity of the Naxalites is yet to be ascertained, but prima facie it appears that they belonged to PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerilla Army) company No. 6, Platoon 16 of Maoists and east Bastar division of Maoists,” he added.

On Friday, the encounter broke out after around 1,000 personnel from the Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Dantewada and Narayanpur set out on an operation, acting on specific intelligence inputs on the presence of Maoists.

The STF and DRG are specialised forces to target Left Wing Extremism in Chhattisgarh.

“We had information on the presence of 50-odd Maoists in the area from the East Bastar division of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoists) and Company No. 6 of their armed wing, People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA),” a senior official had told The Indian Express.

The intelligence input indicated that top-ranking Maoists, such as Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee member Kamlesh and PLGA commander Nandu, were among those in the area.

On Friday afternoon, the encounter took place in the “forest area around three villages, Govel, Nendur and Tultuli, around 40 kilometres from Dantewada headquarters”, said Dantewada Superintendent of Police Gaurav Rai. The three villages fall in the Abujhmad region.

About the size of Goa, Abujhmad is considered a Maoist stronghold. Security forces claim to have recovered 50 per cent, or around 4,000 square kilometres, of the area from Maoists in various operations.