Additional details were not divulged owing to the security concerns for the security personnel engaged in the anti-Maoist campaign in the region, as the search operation is ongoing.
According to data accessed by this newspaper, women now account for nearly 25 percent of 435 Naxals killed in encounters during the period, the highest recorded since 2001.
The couple, each carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on their heads, relinquished their 25-year-long association after realising the “hollow, anti-development ideology” of the banned outfit, police said.
According to local sources, Maoist cadres led by local leader Vella stormed into the village and strangled the relatives of surrendered Naxal commander Dinesh Modium.
Girepunje, a 2013-batch officer of the state police service, was leading a patrol on the Konta-Errabore route when he accidentally stepped on a pressure IED planted by Maoists.
