Chhattisgarh police identify 2 out of 29 Maoists killed in Kanker encounter

Including the encounter on Tuesday, 79 Maoists have been killed so far this year in separate gunfights with security forces in the Bastar region, which consists of seven districts, including Kanker

A day after 29 Maoists were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces, the police on Wednesday identified two of them, both divisional committee members of North Bastar Division of CPI (Maoist), officials said. Identification of other Maoists and search operation at the encounter site is still underway.

Paramilitary forces patrol a Maoist-affected area. (HT File Photo)

The two Maoists, who have been identified are Shankar Rao and Lalita Meravi, carried a reward of ₹8 lakh on their heads.

“The rest of the Maoists could be from the Partapur area committee of CPI (Maoist) and from the People’s Liberation of Guerrilla Army (PLGA),” a senior police official said.

Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said that the encounter, which took place in the tri-junction of Kanker, Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh) and Gadchiroli (adjoining Maharashtra), caused a big dent for the North Bastar Division of the ultras.

“The division is known for collecting illegal levy and also provide safe haven to Maoists in the region. They have suffered a major setback in this division after the encounter,” the IG said, adding that there were around 110 armed cadres of Maoists in this division before the gunfight.

“One AK-47, two Insas rifles, two self loading rifles (SLR), one carbine and other weapons were recovered from the site of the encounter. The inputs were received about the presence of around 50 Maoists,” Sundarraj said.

“The Maoists had hatched a conspiracy to carry out violent activities during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. We made proper arrangements at the time of the assembly elections [last year], therefore they were not able to execute any big incident,” the IG said.

Including the encounter on Tuesday, 79 Maoists have been killed so far this year in separate gunfights with security forces in the Bastar region, which consists of seven districts, including Kanker.