Five Maoists killed in gunfight with security personnel in Gadchiroli, say police

The operation in south Gadchiroli’s Bhamragarh tehsil was conducted ahead of the November 20 assembly elections

NAGPUR: Five suspected Maoists including three women were killed in a gunfight with the police in the jungle near Kopri, located in the Bhamragarh tehsil of south Gadchiroli, bordering Chhattisgarh on Monday, police said.

The gunfight with the Maoists took place on Monday after a joint team of the CRPF and C-60 commandos reached close to a Maoist camp (FILE PHOTO)

Gadchiroli superintendent of police (SP) Neelotpal said a joint team of the C-60 commandos — an elite anti-naxalite unit of the district — and personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) came under attack from the Maoists after the security personnel reached a location close to their camp. A fierce battle ensued between the security forces and the Maoists for over three hours, he said.

Neelotpal said the extremists of the banned CPI (Maoist) gathered in the forest along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border over the past two days and were planning an attack in view of the upcoming elections on November 20.

Neelotpal said that the gunfight took place in the forested area of Kopri in the Bhamragarh region, which borders the Abujmarh area of Chhattisgarh. Anti-Maoist police teams are actively engaged in the operation, and initial reports indicate that five suspected Maoists have been killed, while one policeman sustained injuries.

The district police chief said the security personnel have initiated an operation to locate other suspected Maoists.

Monday’s gunfight comes a day after the surrender of a Maoist couple who had a reward of ₹8 lakh for information leading to their arrest. Police identified them as Asin Rajaram Kumar (37), alias Anil, and his wife Anju Sulya Jale (28), alias Sonia.

Police said Asin Rajaram Kumar was an ‘area committee member’ of the Maoists’ press team in Odisha. Originally from Narwana in Haryana, he had been living under a false identity in an area near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, according to the official. Jale, a resident of Gadchiroli, was also part of the same press team in the eastern state and had been living in Himachal Pradesh. They surrendered to Gadchiroli police and CRPF officials on Sunday.

On September 3, nine Maoists were killed during a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar division.