The Chhattisgarh Police on Thursday claimed to have gunned down an alleged Maoist in Dantewada, nearly 360 km south of capital Raipur
According to the police, Denga Deva alias Mahangu Deva, an alleged member of the Katekalyan Area Committee of the CPI (Maoist), was killed following an encounter in a forest near Nedanar village of Dantewada around 2.30 p.m.
Denga was carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh on his head, Inspector General of Police (Bastar) Sundarraj P said. The District Reserve Guard or DRG, that specialises in counter-insurgency operations, was involved in the encounter and there were no casualties among the security forces, the IG added.
“The troopers were out on an anti-Naxal operation when Maoists of the Katekalyan Area Committee started firing. The police retaliated and when the encounter ended, the body of a Maoist was recovered from the spot. Additional DRG and CRPF teams from the nearby operational base camps have been inducted for search operations,” Mr. Sundarraj said.
Two days ago in adjoining Bijapur, a village sarpanch Ratiram Kudiyam (35) was killed allegedly by Maoists who purportedly suspected him as a police informer. Following the incident, the police announced a combing operation in the nearby jungles.
This is the third such incident taking place in less than 10 days in the insurgency-affected regions of central India. Earlier on June 20, three alleged Maoists were killed in a police encounter in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat, which shares a border with Chhattisgarh. A day after this, three CRPF jawans were killed in an ambush by alleged Maoists along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border.
