Maoist active for 25 years, with Rs 25-lakh bounty, among 3 killed in latest Chhattisgarh encounter
The encounter broke out at around 8 am while security forces were on an operation after receiving information on the presence of Maoists in the area.
An INSAS rifle, a .303 rifle, and a 12 bore rifle were among items recovered from them. (Express photo) A 58-year-old Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) member, who came from undivided Andhra Pradesh to Bastar and was active for over 25 years in the Naxal movement in Chhattisgarh, was among the three Maoists gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Abujhmad, on the inter-district border of Dantewada and Bijapur in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The encounter broke out at around 8 am while security forces were on an operation after receiving information on the presence of Maoists in the area.
An official said, “We had received information on the presence of Naxals near villages of Giraspara, Nelgoda, Bodga and Ikeli, which fall in the jurisdiction of Gedam police station. Based on the information, a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Bastar Fighters had set out on the operation.”
Superintendent of Police for Dantewada district, Gaurav Rai said, “Among the three Maoists killed is Sudhir alias Sudhakar alias Murli alias Ankesarapu Saraiya, 58, a native of Tarlapalli in erstwhile Warangal district in Telangana. He was a DKSZC who had a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on him.”
DKSZC is the highest state-level committee for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Chhattisgarh.
Sudhir joined the Maoists in 1999 and came to the area known as Dandakaranya – the Bastar region in Chhattisgarh and south Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. He was active in Abujhmad and Gadchiroli in 2003 under the nom de guerre, Murli.
In 2012, he started working for Naxal commander Prabhkar, who in 2014-2015 became a DKSZC member.
He was also in touch with the north bureau and worked as the in-charge of the Mobile Political School (MOPOS) in Maad division. MOPOS is run for Maoist cadres to teach them about their ideology.
Another Maoists killed on Tuesday was identified as Mannu Barsa and Pandru Atra – both of whom provided security for DKSZC members and are from Bhairamgarh in Bijapur.
An INSAS rifle, a .303 rifle, and a 12 bore rifle were among items recovered from them.
With this encounter, a total of 116 Maoists have been killed in Chhattisgarh this year, and 100 of them were killed in the Bastar region.
On March 20, a total of 30 Maoists were gunned down and a jawan was killed in two encounters in Bijapur and Kanker districts.
On Sunday, Maoists tried to blow up a vehicle of the security forces using an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Madded area of Bijapur while the forces were returning from an operation. The jawans had a narrow escape as the blast missed their vehicle by seconds.
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