Bijapur villagers call encounter staged, say those killed were not Maoists; forces deny

Police have killed innocent villagers and the encounter was totally fake, according to Soni Sori, a tribal activist working in the Bastar region of the state

Two days after 12 alleged Maoists were killed by security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, villagers and activists on Sundaysaid those killed were area residents who were branded as insurgents by police.

The arms and other items recovered by the security personnel during the encounter in Bijapur district on Friday. (PTI)

The villagers gathered outside the Bijapur district collectorate, demanding the dead bodies of their kin, saying they were killed in a “fake encounter” with security forces. Police refuted the claims. Those killed in the encounter were Maoists who changed into local attire after seeing police in the jungle, officers said.

On Friday, security forces said they gunned down 12 Maoists, including Budhu Oyam and Kallu Punem, both members of military company number 2 of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) outfit who carried rewards of ₹8 lakh each on their head. Others killed in the encounter were Gangaloor area committee member of Maoists, Lakhe Kunjam, and member of military platoon number 12, Bhima Karam, who had rewards of ₹5 lakh each on their heads.

The other deceased, militia platoon commander Sannu Lakom and vice-head of the Janata Sarkar (people’s government) Avlam, were carrying a bounty of ₹2 lakh each, said Jitendra Yadav, superintendent of police of Bijapur district, adding that six others were lower-rung members of the banned outfit.

Villagers on the other hand claimed area residents were gunned down by the security forces and the encounter was fake. Some villagers had gone to pluck tendu leaves from the forest and started running when security forces moved towards them, said Gurunanda, a resident of Pedia village who witnessed the encounter. “They were shot down by the forces while they were running in fear and surprise,” Gurunanda alleged.

Another villager, Raju from Korchuli village, said they have come to take the bodies of their relatives. “Lalu Kunjam, who was killed, was not a Maoist but a farmer,” Raju said. “He was running away after seeing the police, when he was shot down.”

Rakesh Alvam of Pedia village said his younger sibling Moto Alvam was hit by a bullet when he was plucking tendu leaves in the jungle. “The police have cordoned off Pedia village and one other village Itaavar. My brother was in the jungle plucking leaves and was hit by a bullet fired by the police. All those killed in the encounter were villagers, not Maoists, and they were picked up from these two villages and killed,” Rakesh Alvam said.

He also identified the deceased in a press note issued by Bijapur police and said that all were residents of Itaavar and Pedia villages.

Activists said they will take legal action. Police have killed innocent villagers and the encounter was totally fake, according to Soni Sori, a tribal activist working in the Bastar region of the state.

“Those killed include villagers who were plucking tendu leaves in the jungle. They started running when they saw police and the jawans shot them. I talked to some family members of the deceased and they told me some of the villagers were also picked up from their houses and killed in the jungle,” said Sori.

“We will file a petition in the high court because the police have killed innocent villagers,” she said.

To be sure, police stuck to their position that those killed were Maoists. “They changed clothes and mingled with the villagers. All of the deceased were Maoists, not villagers. The villagers had come to take the dead bodies of the Maoists who were their relatives,” said Kamalochan Kashyap, deputy inspector general of police of the South Bastar region.

A total of 70 people were brought to Gangaloor police station for questioning, out of which around nine were hardcore Maoists, he claimed.

As many as 104 Maoist insurgents have been killed till May 12 this year, more than the 22 and 30 killed in all of 2022 and 2023, respectively. There have also been suggestions of retributive action by the Maoists, with 22 civilians killed by the insurgents in the first four months of 2024, compared with 41 killed in 2023. At least three of the civilians killed this year have been politicians associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In the biggest anti-Maoist operation in recent decades, security forces killed 29 rebels in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on April 16.