RAIPUR: Twelve of the 16 Naxals killed in the Gariaband gunbattle with security forces have been identified and carried a cumulative bounty of more than ₹3 crore, police said on Thursday.
Six of the dead were women.
Inspector General of Police, Raipur Range, Amresh Mishra said 12 of the 16 Naxals killed in the operation have been identified and carried a combined reward of ₹3.13 crore in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh,
The most prominent of them was Chalapathi, also known as Ramchandran, Pratap Reddy, Appa Rao, and Ravi, a member of the central committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), who carried a reward of ₹90 lakh.
Chalapathi was a resident of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. He carried a reward of ₹90 lakh announced by Chhattisgarh ( ₹40 lakh), Odisha ( ₹25 lakh), and Andhra Pradesh ( ₹25 lakh).
The operation in Gariaband district’s Mainpur area along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, which ended on Wednesday, involved personnel from E-30 (a Gariaband district police unit), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its anti-Naxal commando unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Odisha Police.
{{/usCountry}}The operation in Gariaband district’s Mainpur area along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, which ended on Wednesday, involved personnel from E-30 (a Gariaband district police unit), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its anti-Naxal commando unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Odisha Police.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from Chalapathi, Mishra said two other key cadres were identified as Jairam alias Guddu (50), a member of the Odisha state committee and secretary of the Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada (DGN) division of Maoists, and Satyam Gavde (43), chief of the DGN division. Both were natives of Chhattisgarh and carried a cumulative reward of ₹65 lakh each in three states, he said.
Alok alias Munna, a divisional committee member, and Mannu, a member of military company no. 1 in the Maad area, who carried a bounty of ₹18 lakh and ₹14 lakh respectively, were also among those killed by security forces in the operations.
Four area committee members, Shankar, Kalmu Deve alias Kalla, Manju, and Rinki, had a combined reward of ₹13 lakh each. Three others, Sukhram, a party member, and Rame Oyam (28) and Jaini (24), both members of the Mainpur LGS (local guerilla squad), carried a reward of ₹3 lakh each on their head.
Mishra said 17 firearms including an AK-47 rifle and one Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), were recovered from the encounter site. The Naxals had also planted more than two dozen explosive devices around the encounter site which have been neutralised by the security forces, he added.
At least 42 Naxals have been killed in separate gunfights in Chhattisgarh this year. Last year, 219 Naxalites were neutralized by security forces in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh.