Dantewada: Maoists Claim 7 More Killed in Oct 4 Encounter; Toll Rises to 38, Say Chhattisgarh Police

Two weeks after an encounter in Bastar, the police reported 38 Maoists were killed, the highest toll in Chhattisgarh's history.

Dantewada: Two weeks after a major encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region that resulted in the deaths of 31 Maoists, the police reported that the Maoists claimed an additional seven of their members were killed in the same encounter, bringing the total toll to 38. According to the police, all the 38 Naxalites gunned down on the October 4 encounter, the highest fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single operation in the state's 24-year-old history. The deceased were collectively carrying a reward of Rs 2.62 crore, the police said.

Security personnel had recovered the bodies of 31 Maoists and a cache of automatic weapons following the encounter in the Abhujmaad area in a forest between Thulthuli and Nendur villages along the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada districts. A joint team of the state police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) was involved in the operation.

The East Bastar division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), in a press statement, confirmed that seven more Maoists died in the same encounter and they managed to take away their bodies with them during the gunfight, Dantewada Superintendent of Police (SP) Gaurav Rai said. With this admission, a total of 38 Naxalites were eliminated in the fierce encounter and the identity of all of them has been ascertained, he said.

Of them, Niti alias Urmila, a woman member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), was carrying a reward of Rs 25 lakhs on her head. She was the fourth DKSZC member to have been killed in encounters with security personnel this year in the state, Rai said.

Another key deceased cadre was Nandu Mandavi, a commander of the West Bastar Division of Maoists. Mandavi was carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakhs on his head, the police officer informed. Of the remaining slain cadres, 22 were carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakhs each, nine Rs 5 lakhs each and three Rs 2 lakhs each, Rai said.

Of the 38 cadres killed in the gunfight, 36 were collectively carrying a reward of Rs 2.62 crore. They all were wanted in more than 250 Maoist-related incidents in Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondgaon and Bastar districts, the SP said.

They were involved in 61 encounters with the police, 11 attacks on police camps, triggering 17 IED blasts, nine incidents of arson and three attacks on polling booths. In these incidents, 28 policemen and 23 civilians lost their lives, while 15 security personnel and 26 civilians sustained injuries, he said.

Twenty-nine of the 31 bodies recovered by security personnel following the encounter have been handed over to their relatives, the SP said. (With PTI Inputs)

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