2 Maoists, carrying ₹13 lakh bounty, killed in encounter with police in Bastar

Police said that the encounter with Maoists took place on Monday morning in the forest of Kadme village in Bastar’s Kanker district in Chhattisgarh

Two Maoists, jointly carrying a reward of ₹13 lakh on their head, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Bastar’s Kanker district in Chhattisgarh on Monday, police said.

Police said they had information that senior Maoist cadres were gathering at a village in Bastar. (Representative Image)

The killed cadres were identified as Darshan Padda (32), member of the North Bastar Division Committee of CPI (Maoist) and secretary of Partapur area committee of Maoists, and Jagesh Salaam (23), commander of a small action team of Maoists in the same division.

Police said that Padda, a senior cadre of Maoists, was carrying a reward of ₹8 lakh.

“Padda was a senior cadre and was accused of 39-40 cases of Maoists violence in North Bastar. Salaam was also wanted in several cases and was carrying ₹5 lakh reward,” said Shalabh Sinhna, superintendent of police (SP), Kanker.

Police said that the encounter took place on Monday morning in the forest of Kadme village under Siksod police station.

“ We had information that senior Maoist cadres were gathering at a village. Subsequently, two separate teams of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Border Security Force (BSF) went for anti-Maoist operations. When the DRG patrolling team was near Kadme, some Maoists opened fire on it following which a gun-battle broke out in the forest,” said Sinha. After guns fell silent, bodies of two Maoists were recovered from the spot, the official said.

“We have also recovered a 315 bore rifle, a country made pistol and huge cache of ammunition along with items of daily use from the spot,” the SP added.