At least four Maoists were gunned down and a District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawan was killed following an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad region late on Saturday. This is the first encounter of the year in this region. The security forces have seized automatic weapons like AK-47 from the deceased Maoists. Abujhmad has been a longstanding stronghold of the Maoists in Chhattisgarh and is a region that has not been surveyed since India’s Independence. The area is larger than that of Goa and is located in the Maoist-infested region of Bastar’s Narayanpur district. It is also spread across the districts of Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker in Chhattisgarh and a small part of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. “Acting on the presence of Maoists in Abujhmad (also known as Maad), a joint operation was undertaken by DRG teams from Narayanpur, Dantewada, Jagdalpur, Kondagaon and Special Task Force,” Inspector General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj P, said. On Saturday evening, after the encounter broke out, intermittent firing continued for hours. After the firing stopped, search operations were conducted and bodies of four Maoists dressed in the uniform of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), an armed wing of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), were recovered. In the encounter, DRG head constable Sannu Karam also passed away. An AK47 rifle and a SLR were recovered from the spot. The forces said search operations and the encounter is still going on. Last year, 217 Maoists were gunned down in which over 100 were killed in and around Abujhmad, as part of the Maad Bachao Abhiyan undertaken by the defence forces.
