RAIPUR: At least two cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the Abujhmad area of Narayanpur district, about 400 km south of Raipur, the police said on Monday.
Troops launched a search operation based on intelligence inputs regarding the presence of Maoists in the given location of Narayanpur district, close to the Maharashtra–Chhattisgarh border.
"A gunfight broke out between the security forces and the Maoists inside the forested terrain in the morning. The exchange of fire continued intermittently. Besides the two bodies of Naxals, security forces recovered weapons including an AK-47 rifle, explosive materials and items of daily use from the encounter site," said a senior police officer.
The bodies were identified as Raju Dada alias Katta Ramchandra (63) and Kosa Dada alias Kadri Satyanarayan (67). Both were residents of Telangana state and each carried a bounty of Rs 40 lakh in Chhattisgarh, the officer added. The duo were active in the Dandakaranya zone, the worst Maoist-affected region of Bastar in south Chhattisgarh, for the past three decades.
There has been no report of any security personnel sustaining injuries in the encounter.
As the search operations are underway alongside the gun-battle, further operational details were not shared owing to the safety concerns of the personnel engaged in the anti-Maoist campaign on the ground.
Narayanpur, among the seven Maoist-affected districts in Bastar zone, is cited as an epicentre of the left-wing extremist group in south Chhattisgarh.
This year, 247 Maoists have been neutralised in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh. Of them, in the Bastar division, the forces gunned down 218, while 27 were eliminated in the Gariaband district adjoining the Odisha border. Two other Naxalites were killed in the Durg division.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had in August last year declared that the country would be Maoist-free by March 31, 2026.