Biggest ever encounter in Chhattisgarh: Toll reaches 31 as senior Naxal leaders among the dead

Forces faced harsh terrain, rains, and dense jungle during 72-hour operation in Abujhmad; slain Naxalites include senior cadres carrying total bounty of over ₹1.30 crore

The bodies of three more Naxalites were recovered in the early hours of Saturday in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad, taking the number of dead to 31 in the biggest ever encounter in the State’s history. The slain Naxalites include senior cadres carrying a cumulative bounty of more than ₹1.30 crore, the police said.

The forces believe that the latest encounter in Abujhmad — an unsurveyed, 4,000-square kilometre forested area which has long been considered a safe hideout for top Naxalite leaders — is a crucial setback for the Naxals who also use it for their arms manufacturing. Bastar Inspector General of Police P. Sundarraj says that according to the police’s estimates, even after Friday’s encounter, around 100 to 150 armed cadres of the Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) are present in different formations in Abujhmad.

Nearly 1,300 to 1,500 specialised jawans from District Reserve Guards and Special Task Force from Dantewada and Narayanpur districts left on October 3 for a forested area bordering villages such as Govel, Nendur and Thulthuli under Orcha police station area in Narayanpur and Barsur in Dantewada after learning about the presence of Naxalites there. From the start of the operation to the clean-up, the entire exercise lasted around 72 hours, Mr. Sundarraj said.

Bodies recovered

On Saturday morning, security personnel were seen coming back with the bodies in Bedma village, one of the sparsely populated hamlet enroute to the site of the encounter. A travel during daytime needs a combination of motorbikes (from the nearest motorable road in Dantewada’s Chhindnar area) and trekking through the series of hills and hillocks besides navigating through shallow rivulets.

For the forces, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Gaurav Rai said, there was an additional challenge in the form of rainfall. “We had to ensure that all our teams reached around the same time to catch them by surprise which helped us in targeting them with precision,” he said.

An Additional SP rank officer, who was a part of the team that carried out the operation, said that the rains had made the ground slippery and the excessive rainfall over the past month or so had left the forests dense that the visibility was barely five metres. “Additionally, the terrain was riddled with thorny bushes that naturally spring up in the jungle, making movement even more challenging,” the officer explained.

At a press conference held in Dantewada, Bastar IG Mr. Sundarraj said that 16 of the 31 dead Naxalites had been identified till late Saturday evening. Among them, he added, Niti alias Urmila, a woman member of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) – the strongest formation of Maoists – was carrying a reward of ₹25 lakh on her head. Niti, a member of DKSZC of Maoists, who was heading the east Bastar division of Maoists, that was active on the junction of five districts – Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bastar, Bijapur and Kondagaon, among the 13 women Naxalite cadres killed in Friday’s operation. Apart from her, two other key cadres were identified as Suresh Salaam and Meena Madkam, divisional committee members who were carrying rewards of ₹8 lakh each on their heads, the IG said.

The police also displayed the bodies and the materials purportedly recovered from the encounter site that included a light machine gun rifle, assault rifles and .303 bore rifle, besides fabricated weapons and items of daily use and other Maoist related materials.

Published - October 05, 2024 11:36 am IST