RAIPUR: A Maoist was killed in an exchange fire with the security forces at Indagaon forested terrain of Gariyaband district, about 170 km east of Raipur, on Friday. The casualty figures of the rebels are likely to rise as the gun battle continues in the area, said the police.
“Based on some specific inputs about the presence of Maoists belonging to Udanti Area Committee in the region, a joint team comprising Gariyaband police, Special Operation Group (SOG) of Odisha, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) including an elite unit of CoBRA personnel launch a search operation. A Maoist body was recovered along with three automatic weapons and other items”, Nikhil Rakhecha, Gariyaband district police chief told this newspaper.
The intermittent exchange of fire is still on as the Maoists clustered together in the area were stated to be surrounded by the forces.
There has been no report of any security personnel sustaining injuries in the gun battle and further details were awaited. The recovered body of the Maoists is yet to be identified.
Gariyaband, adjoining Odisha state, is among the Maoist-affected districts of Chhattisgarh.
Last year, the Maoists suffered the biggest setback in their revolutionary history in conflict-ridden Bastar where 219 bodies of Maoists have been recovered after they were neutralised by security forces in separate encounters in south Chhattisgarh. Besides, 992 cadres of left-wing extremists were arrested and 837 had surrendered in the state.
The series of encounters against the left-wing extremists remains a part of the renewed strategy to free the Chhattisgarh state from the influence of the outlawed Maoists.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared the country will be free from the Maoist problem by March 2026.