Raipur: A Naxal, carrying a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head and wanted in nearly 25 criminal cases, was gunned down during an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Sunday, police said. The gunfight took place at a forest in Pordem at around 12.30 pm, they said. A team of the District Reserve Group (DRG) during an anti-Naxal exercise came under fire from rebels, following which the security personnel launched retaliatory action, they said.
The rebels later fled the spot, taking cover of the thick vegetation in the forest, located around 400 km from Raipur, he said. During a search of the area, the security personnel recovered the body of a Naxal along with a pistol and other articles of daily use. The slain cadre was identified as Santosh Markam, a member of the Malangir Area Committee of rebels. He was carrying a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said. Around 25 criminal cases were registered against the slain Naxal at Aranpur police station, he added.
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Earlier today, Police have cracked a 10-year-old murder case after an accused during a casual conversation with a friend told him that he had killed a man in Raipur in 2011. After getting the lead, the police on Friday arrested the main accused, identified as Santosh Yadav alias Ghanshyam (30), and his associate Lokesh Yadav (32), Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Tarkeshwar Patel said. The victim, Lekhram Sen (40), a resident of Kosrangi village here in Chhattisgarh, was killed in January 2011 at Farhada village in the district, he said.
Santosh Yadav, during a conversation recently with a friend at a 'dhaba' (roadside eatery) in Farhada village, told him that he killed Sen in 2011, following which the police got a whiff of it and rounded him up a few days back. The official said during questioning, Santosh Yadav told the police that he strangulated Sen to death in January 2011 with the help of Lokesh Yadav and dumped the body at a paddy field in Farhada village. In his statement to police, Santosh said in 2011, he went to his maternal home and got into a relationship with a girl. While he was meeting his girlfriend at a paddy field in the village late at night, Sen, who was passing by, spotted the duo and threatened them to reveal about their relationship to villagers," the official said.
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"Later, Santosh with the help of Lokesh allegedly strangulated Sen to death with his belt," Patel said quoting the statement of the main accused. The two accused have been booked under relevant sections, he added.
PTI
