RAIPUR:A day before the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh, a Border Security Officer (BSF) sub-inspector was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion at Kanker and a Naxal was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in another strife-torn district of Bijapur.
The security forces in both the districts were out on area domination operations ahead of the polls. "BSF troopers were on the area domination since Saturday evening to secure the region where the polling are to be held on Monday.
Two personnel of the BSF while patrolling between villages of Gattakal and Udanpur sustained injuries in the IED blast detonated by Naxalites. Critically injured sub-inspector Mahendra Singh succumbed to his injuries after he was brought at the Udanpur base camp of BSF.Another injured jawan Dinesh Kumar is out of danger", Kanker district police chief K L Dhruv told The New Indian Express.
The police had an intelligence input about the movement of Maoists close to the area where the blast took place. "The area domination operations are aimed to sanitise the localities in and around the polling booths. The operation will remain underway and additional forces have been sent to further intensify it", the Kanker SP added.
The deceased Mahendra Singh was the resident of Rajasthan and his body will be flown to his native state tonight, the officer said. In another incident, a Naxal, clad in 'uniform' was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur. "At around 9 am there was exchange of fire between the forces and the rebels at Markur village about 80 away from the district headquarter. A body of Maoist, a rifle and explosive recovered from the encounter site", Bijapur SP Mohit Garg told the Express.
"We had inputs that the Maoists had planned to disturb the election process and attack on remotely located polling stations on Monday. So, a joint team of special task force 9STF) and the district police left on an area domination in the region to thwart any such nefarious plan", Garg said. The seven Maoist-affected districts of Bastar having 12 seats are going to polls on Monday amid heavy deployment of security forces in the region where the voting will be held from 7 am to 3 pm.