Friday morning, two MAOISTs, a man and a woman, were slain in a jungle in the Bijapur area of Chhattisgarh after an encounter with security forces. The incident reportedly occurred during a coordinated anti-Maoist operation conducted by the security forces of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The event occurred at approximately 7:00 a.m. under the jurisdiction of the Farsegarh police station in Bijapur, in a jungle area near Tekameta village.
“According to reports, the incident occurred approximately 10 kilometres from the Maharashtra boundary. One female and one male were murdered. We are interrogating a wounded Maoist who was captured alive during the engagement. We have retrieved three firearms, including two SLRs and one other type. No one on our team was injured, said Anjneya Varshney, superintendent of police for Bilaspur, in an interview with The Indian Express.
While the identity of the guy murdered in operation has still to be determined, the woman has been identified as Kanthi Lingavva alias Anitha, 41, from Laxmi Sagar, Telangana. She had a reward of Rs 16 lakh from Maharashtra and Rs 5 lakh from Telangana for her capture.
She is the wife of Mylarapu Adellu alias Bhashkar, a member of the Telangana state committee and secretary of the Maoists’ Kumram Bhim divisional committee, according to the police. Mylarapu, whose capture has a reward of more than Rs 20 lakh, was present and managed to flee, according to the police.
The wounded Maoist has been identified as 28-year-old Lachhmayya Kuchha Weladi from Tekameta, Bijapur.
The combined force consisted of 300 commandos from Gadchiroli’s Special Operations Squad (C-60) and 20 commandos from Chhattisgarh’s District Reserve Guards.
The crew entered Chhattisgarh from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district as part of the combing operation. The police stated that the Maoists opened fire on them before they issued a cease-fire request. The police retaliated with gunfire when the Maoist did not cease firing. The gunfight lasted approximately 45 minutes.
“It’s the first time the Gadchiroli police has operated thus far outside the Maharashtra border in collaboration with the Bijapur police,” claimed the Gadchiroli police chief, Neelotpal.
