Maoist carrying ₹5 lakh bounty killed in Bijapur gunfight with security forces
The gunfight broke out early on Friday in the Aadwada–Kotmeta forest area under Bhairamgarh police station limits
RAIPUR: A Maoist carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Friday, a police officer said.
The gunfight broke out early on Friday in the Aadwada–Kotmeta forest area under Bhairamgarh police station limits, when a team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) was in the middle of an anti-Maoist operation based on inputs about the presence of cadres in the area.
Police said Fagnu Madvi (35), an active member of the Bhairamgarh area committee of the Maoists, was found dead in the area after the firing stopped. A .303 rifle and a 9 mm pistol were also seized from the spot apart from two scanner sets, a radio, and a medical kit.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam, said sustained and coordinated operations by security forces have significantly weakened the Maoist network in Bastar. He said also urged the remaining Maoist cadres to abandon violence and surrender under the government’s rehabilitation policy.
In all, 285 Maoists have been killed in gunfights with security forces in Chhattisgarh this year. Of them, 256 were eliminated in the Bastar division comprising seven districts including Bijapur, 27 in Raipur division’s Gariaband district, and two in Durg division’s Mohla–Manpur–Ambagarh Chowki district.
