NEW DELHI, Mar 29: Seventeen Maoists, including 11 women, were killed in an anti-Naxal operation conducted by security forces in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, said the police. Four security personnel also sustained injuries.
A Maoist involved in several attacks, including the 2013 Jheeram Valley massacre that left several top State Congress leaders dead, was among the deceased, the police added. He carried a reward of ₹25 lakh.
Superintendent of Police, Sukma, Kiran Chavan said the operation was launched by a joint party of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of the Chhattisgarh Police and the Central Reserve Police Force on Friday after officials received a tip-off about the presence of Maoists in the areas around Gogunda, Nendum, and Upampalli under Keralapal police station limits.
Around 3.50 p.m. on Saturday, the police confirmed that 17 bodies of Naxalites were recovered from the encounter site. Weapons such as AK-47, INSAS and .303 rifles, rocket and grenade launchers, and explosives were also recovered, they further said.
This is the second major encounter in Chhattisgarh in less than 10 days. On March 20, as many as 26 suspected Maoists were killed along the Bijapur-Dantewada region.
Seven deceased Maoists have been identified so far after Saturday’s encounter. Among them was Darbha Division Secretary/Special Zonal Committee member Kuhadami Jagdish, who carried a reward of ₹25 lakh, the officer said, adding he was wanted in more than a dozen serious cases, including the Jheeram Valley massacre and the 2023 Aranpur blast, in which 10 DRG personnel and a civilian driver were killed in neighbouring Dantewada.
The police statement noted that a few other Maoists killed in the encounter too were ranked members. “Four jawans, including three from the DRG and one from the CRPF were injured in the encounter,” Mr Chavan said. The police statement said the injured jawans were out of danger and that the Indian Air Force played a major role in their evacuation.
Since the beginning of this year, at least 117 Maoists have been killed by security forces in the Bastar region that comprises seven districts, including Bijapur, Sukma and Dantewada.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the operation another strike on Naxalism. “Another strike on Naxalism! Our security agencies have neutralised 16 Naxalites and recovered a massive cache of automatic weapons in an operation in Sukma. Under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, we are resolved to eradicate Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026. My appeal to those with arms is that weapons and violence cannot bring change; only peace and development can,” his post on X read.
(Manas Dasgupta)
