Maoists say seven more cadres were killed in Chhattisgarh encounter, taking toll up to 38 : Valley Vision

Two weeks after a major encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, where initially 31 Maoists were killed by security forces, police on Friday said Maoists have now admitted seven more of their cadres lost their lives in the same gunfight, taking the toll to 38, PTI news agency reported.

The East Bastar division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), in a press statement, confirmed that seven more Naxalites died in the same encounter and they managed to take away their bodies with them during the gunfight, Dantewada Superintendent of Police (SP) Gaurav Rai said to the news agency.

All the 38 Naxalites who were killed in the October 4 encounter, the highest fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single operation in the State’s 24-year-old history, were identified and they were collectively carrying a reward of ₹2.62 crore, the police claimed.

Security personnel had recovered the bodies of 31 Maoists and a cache of automatic weapons following the encounter in the Abhujmad area in a forest between Thulthuli and Nendur villages along the border of Narayanpur-Dantewada districts. A joint team of the State police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) was involved in the operation, according to PTI.

Of them, Niti alias Urmila, a woman member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) – the strongest formation of Maoists – was carrying a reward of ₹25 lakh on her head. She was the fourth DKSZC member to have been killed in encounters with security personnel this year in the State, Rai said.

Another key deceased cadre was Nandu Mandavi, a “commander” of the West Bastar division of Maoists. Mandavi was carrying a reward of ₹10 lakh on his head, the police officer informed. Of the remaining slain cadres, 22 were carrying a reward of ₹8 lakh each, nine ₹5 lakh each and three ₹2 lakh each, Rai said. Of the 38 cadres killed in the gunfight, 36 were collectively carrying a reward of ₹2.62 crore. They all were wanted in more than 250 Naxalite-related incidents in Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondgaon and Bastar districts, the SP said.

Twenty-nine of the 31 bodies recovered by security personnel following the encounter have been handed over to their relatives, the SP said.

Nearly 200 Maoists have been gunned down by security forces in separate gun-battles in the Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Dantewada and Narayanpur, so far this year, police said. However, rights groups and critics have been arguing that many unarmed civilians were killed in staged encounters.